Posts tagged jobs

The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you’re on the job.

-Slappy White

As I’ve mentioned in recent posts, I am currently unemployed.  I was laid off in February from a job that I absolutely despised, so I can’t say that it was the worst news I’d ever received.  

It’s now mid-May, and it’s been a whopping three months since I’ve worked.  I cannot believe how fast it went and how grueling a job search can be; even when you have more time and energy to devote to it.

Here are the stages I’ve gone through with my unemployment status:

• SHOCK.  Oh my god, did this really happen to me?  Did I really just go into this awful job on a Friday, work an entire stressful and aggravating day, only to be told at 5pm that I no longer would be employed there?  Holy balls!  How will I survive?  Will I starve?  I live in Manhattan for Christs sake!  What will my parents say?  What do I doooooo?
• ACCEPTANCE.  OK, I filed for unemployment.  I told my recruiters and friends the news and to keep me in mind for any job openings.  I have all my ducks in a row and am ready to tackle this unemployment thing and find something bigger and better!
• GLEE.  Wow, so… I don’t have to go to work.  I have free time!  It’s nice out, so I’m gonna go outside in the middle of a weekday!  I’m gonna read a lot of books!  I’m gonna get so much done!  I’m gonna learn how to COOK! I’m gonna take naps mid-day!  I’m gonna stay up late!  I’m going to have so many hobbies!!!!!!!!!!!! 
• NERVOUSNESS.  Why don’t I have a job yet?  How come I haven’t heard back from that place I interviewed?  Am I going to be homeless?  What am I supposed to do with all this free time???! AM I A LOSER?????????

I find myself currently in the ‘nervous’ stage, and it’s not easy.  Sure, there are days where I am thankful I don’t have to schlep to work (on a Monday after a long weekend, or a morning where there are torrential downpours) but it does become monotonous and even a bit boring after a while.

I have been interviewing, and in some cases have “gotten close” to landing something new, but I just have to stay patient and sane, and hope that I eventually find something.  In the meantime, I’ll relish in the fact that I forgot what the alarm clock on my cell phone sounds like, and that I get to do laundry in my building when NO ONE’S in there.