Monday, April 20, 2009

Week 3 in Unemployment Land begins ...

Time is playing tricks on me. The days seem to fly by, but then I think back to last Monday, when I picked up my severance check, and it seems like weeks ago.

There's still a hint of the surreal in the air as I start my third week of unemployment. It's definitely sunk in, but the situation is still so strange. I think it has something to do with breaking the cycle of having to be somewhere every day, which more or less started with preschool. Or maybe it has to do with spending most of the day in the company of my brain. It's probably a bit of both.

Unless I'm employed by the end of the week — uh ... yeah — this will be the first week I'm eligible for unemployment benefits. I'm doing what I should be doing — picking up a little freelance work here and there, talking to people about potential employment, surfing the job boards — and between that, personal projects and this blog, I feel busier than I was when I had a full-time job. The to-do list seems to grow by the day. And it's all good.

I'm having a hard time sleeping — not because I'm up worrying about not having a job, but because I have so many ideas rolling around in my head that my brain won't let me go back to sleep. So, today I gave up around 5:45 a.m. and just got up and went to it. I'll admit, however, that each day I have a momentary freakout and question my motives behind everything and wonder how we're going to get by, but then by the end of the day I feel good about what I accomplished. Even if it meant putting on pants.

Today I'm talking to someone about a possible long-term freelance project, which is encouraging — not the final solution, but a step in the right direction. Word-of-mouth seems to be the way to go right now in this economy. Talk to people. Call in favors. Make deals. Eventually we'll all get out of this, but already I'm realizing it's gonna take new ways of thinking, fresh approaches and a whole lotta moxie

Shit, now I'm starting to sound like a motivational speaker. Time to mow the lawn and enjoy some spring morning sunshine. Peace out ...

1 comment:

  1. One only needs to take a look at your blog archive to see you are certainly not slacking in Unemployment Land -- you are quite the prolific blogger! Glad to hear you have some irons in the freelancing fire.

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