The Art of Unemployment

Being unemployed for more than over a year, one has to find creative ways in killing time, managing time, but most of all, spending time. Now to people who've worked their entire lives, making time is usually their only problem, but for me, killing time and efficiently using it to somehow validate my existence to a job-oriented society was my major dilemma. As they say, idle hands are the devil's playground, and I couldn't be any "idler".

Keeping a positive state of mind and an optimistic heart, I was ready for the challenge. I was ready to spend my time wisely, and in the beginning, I even constituted a routine to outline and guide my daily activities. Mondays, I do groceries, Tuesdays, I eat somewhere new, Wednesdays, I check out the malls, Thursdays, I stay in the kitchen and bake, Fridays and Saturdays, I go out (to the bars), and Sundays, I unwind and get a massage.

And the plan worked...

Well... It was until I got lonely.

People say that no man is an island... But what happens when your island's population wakes up at 8 am and goes to work, while you wake up at 10:30 am, only to find yourself alone for more than half the day, every day, for the past year? What happens when the routine that you've planted and securely attached into your system, fails and dies on you? And as sadly as it may sound, what happens when you start believing everyone's insignificant comments and question your own worth and importance in a society where working is a must? What happens when insignificant comments become significant?

Personally speaking, no one can really tell us if we’re significant or not. It is how we perceive any obstacle, or in this case criticism. We could always look at problems from two different angles, the positive side, or as you might have guessed, the negative side. As for me, I opted to be optimistic and decided that no one could really validate my existence or pass proper judgment on myself, but myself. Comments are good. Comments are meant to be constructive. And it all really depends on how we take it.

Being unemployed (for quite some time) is more likely than not, viewed under a negative light, but personally, I believe that my unemployment is a choice. A choice given to me to see my options and to finally figure out what is I really want to do with my life. I believe that unemployment is more than a job, but an art and a state of trying to keep sane, aiming to be genuinely happy, coping and managing being alone half the time, but most of all, it is an art of adapting to our surroundings and making life work to achieve your own sense of personal bliss.