Can Unemployment Be the Healthiest Time of Your Life?
6 healthy changes to start feeling your best
When I heard the news that I was being laid off, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. My face grew hot, my stomach tightened, and I felt a little unsteady on my feet.
So far, unemployment felt awful.
Over the next few days, the knot in my stomach slowly unwound itself. I woke up in the morning and remembered, “I don’t have to rush to any meetings. I don’t have to commute. I don’t have to drink office coffee!”
And somehow my internal clock reset itself. My 3 p.m. snacking habit disappeared and I stopped getting the Sunday night blues. It’s amazing how much stress from work had been influencing my physical and emotional health.
Sure, unemployment is different for everyone. I’d been laid off before—and that time all I did was worry. This time I used the opportunity to develop a longtime passion and start my own business.
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Comments
I am on my second lay off
I am on my second lay off and this time around I am more relaxed. I fill my days with excerising, reading, working on completing my Master's degree, trying my hand in home improvement projects, and seeing friends. The friendships that were governed by limited time have now gotten stronger because the time with them is not limited. I am doing what is my heart's desire and that is putting time into my people skills. I volunteer more too which I enjoy and nobody turns me down. Thanks for the article.
Thank you for sharing this
Thank you for sharing this article. It does help to ease the anxiety though only for a little while. When I retired from the military I spent about 2 years going to school and preparing for what I thought was my dream and passion. I love to teach and it would be the ice-cream on the cake if I could teach barbering and cosmetology. Preparing, by going to school was not so hard, but what happens/ed after the preparation. For the most part nothing. I do have other skill sets, but have not as yet landed a job. I can be still and take advantage of all of what you mentioned, but I am now getting antsy at being "unproductive" for so long. It really does undermine your self-confidence and strips your identity to an extent. So again, I appreciate this article. It's good to know my thinking is not all skewed.
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