How to cope when you are out of work.
The unemployment rate continues to grow, and recent reports suggest that millions of Americans have been unemployed for over 27 weeks, and what's more, a little over a million more people have given up on finding a job.This discouraged job seekers aren't even being counted in the unemployment rate, which is still hovering at 10%. The numbers are scary, and it is even scarier if you are one of the long term unemployed.
Losing your job and not being able to find another one is one of the most stressful and disheartening things you can go through. It can sap your self-confidence, send you into a financial crisis and cause your health and well-being to suffer. So, how can you keep your sanity and keep your spirits up while you look for a new job?
Here are some tips to help:
- Get out of the house- Isolation is your enemy. When you are alone for a large part of the day, it is really easy for depression to kick in. The scary thing about depression is that it is so hard to see it coming. Often, when someone is depressed, they don't even notice that they are having a problem. Most of the time, they just feel unhappy and think that everything is wrong in the world. So, get outside. Take a walk, schedule a weekly jog. Do whatever it takes to get out of the house and have some social contact.
- Make a schedule- Creating some daily or weekly structure can keep you from going crazy. One of the things that you find you miss the most about not going to work everyday (aside from the paycheck) is knowing what you will be doing at certain times. So, set aside time for networking and job searching but don't forget to schedule other activities as well.
- Create something, Get a hobby- Start something that you are excited about. Now is the time to try to accomplish one of those things that you have always wanted to do but never had the time. Learn a new skill, take a class, write a novel or whatever it is that you are a passionate about. This might be the only period in your life that you will have the free time to try all of these things. Take advantage of it.
- Try something new- Take a chance and try something that you wouldn't normally do. Take a cooking class. Volunteer at a local non-profit. Sign up to teach English in a foreign country. Get out of your comfort zone and find something that you might be interested in. Exposing yourself to new and different experiences and people is a great way to network with new people and could even lead to a new career opportunity.
- Travel- Go visit family out of town or plan a weekend away. If your budget is tight, even going to a nearby town for a day will help. For those who aren't able to get out of town, why not visit your own town as a tourist? Go sightseeing and visit all of the tourist sites. Getting out of the house and having an adventure is a great way to boost your spirits, find inspiration and get some new motivation.
- Keep a Gratitude Journal- Writing down the things you are grateful for everyday can do wonders for keeping depression at bay. I know that it may sound silly, but it is when you are at your lowest that you need to count the things you are grateful for the most. Even if you think that things are pretty bad right now, there are always things that you can be happy about.
Don't let long term unemployment kill your passion.Taking time to take care of yourself may seem selfish at first, but think of it as improving your job prospects. As a culture, we have this idea that if you don't have a job then you should work hard at getting one, and until then, you shouldn't do anything else. The thing is, employers want to hire people who are enthusiastic and upbeat, not ones who are hesitant, beat down and depressed. This is the perfect excuse to take care of yourself and try to enjoy a small part of your newly found free time.
What other things do you think help? Please share your suggestions in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for LogisticsJobsiteBlog and Nexxt, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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