Lessons in Unemployment

Some people will look at you like you have syphilis. The same ones who spring out of bed and put in a hard days work. But that’s not you anymore, or perhaps it never was. This might be why you are here in the first place.

Unemployment, the term itself seems to have been designed to evoke shame. But it doesn’t have to. Whatever the reason for your job loss, there’s a reason. Your job now is to find out what this is.

Here are some tips to make the most of your fortunate circumstances.

Reflect

There is time now to do this. Go for a walk and see the city in ways you couldn’t before. See the food court in all it’s geriatric glory. Walk against the traffic streams and embrace the lost fishy that you are.

Get up early and meditate. Look at the cars and the people moving out your window. Just for a little bit.

Un-consumer

You may begin to notice that you can no longer buy things. When stuff pulls you in, look and walk away, you don’t really have a choice now. But notice how quickly you forget, and realize how little it meant to you.

Consumerism is an addiction: Giving in is a rush followed by emptiness. Unemployment is an opportunity, albeit a forced one, to go clean.

Get to work

Time is not distributed evenly and if you think you have a lot of it it will disappear.

Unemployed, a trip to the grocery story can end up taking a whole afternoon, and cooking dinner, well there’s your evening. Better rest up for another big day tomorrow.

The remedy to this and hating yourself is to assign yourself a new boss: You. Buy an agenda, write out what you will do, at what time, and do it.

What will you do? This doesn’t matter so much. Just…

Mark the canvas

Remember when you day dreamed about how differently you would live your life if you didn’t have to work all the time? Well now’s your chance. You summoned the blank canvas, so make a mark.

Suddenly it’s not so easy because…

Up until now we’ve had instructions and made marks not of our own. We’ve been pressed into two spaces: Work and recovery from work. If we are brave enough to explore this third space, this new space, a new sense and a new life will come to be.