The Hidden Curse of Unemployment

Besides the obvious negatives to unemployment (lack of income, shattered confidence, all that good stuff...), there are other, more hidden negatives that plague the jobless among us.

For me, the most important "hidden negative" is the loss of structure in my life. When I was working, I had specific times for everything and the 'routine' worked well for me.

It's one of the reasons that returning to work in New York City is so appealing. The concept of being on a train, with a specific amount of time where I can ONLY be on the train would provide with me a good amount of time each day to accomplish things (not that I'm opposed to working on Long Island - far from it, obviously; I just don't dread the commute to NYC like many others do).

Effectively, my life consists of about five motivations currently -- the first, and predominant one, is finding a job. This is, in-and-of-itself, a full-time job, even *with* the efficiencies I've put in place. Between searching, applying (which can be incredibly time-consuming), phone interviews, informational interviews and formal, face-to-face interviews, a good chunk of time is spent on this task -- as it rightfully should be.

Then, there are about four other motivations that vie for my time (mostly, unsuccessfully):

1. Doing home-care stuff -- cleaning, organizing, etc. I do believe being home should allow you to get this kind of stuff done; but I haven't been all that diligent.
2. Doing personal stuff I've wanted to do for a while -- I mentioned this on my blog many months ago, and, of course, I haven't gotten much done on this front either.
3. Doing things with friends -- much like the last time, I find that doing things with friends, etc. helps keep your mind off the situation at hand. Maintaining a positive attitude, and celebrating that which you're thankful for, is -- in my mind -- the first step to landing.
4. Spending time with my wife -- in the grand scheme of things, this is the one that gets left behind the most. It's always easiest, isn't it?

Because the day is spent on job-searching, and interviews pop up (thankfully), an awful lot of my 'tasks' get moved to later in the day, week, month, etc. And, that continued rescheduling is a constant reminder of the inability to create structure in my life.

Add to that equation the fact that I am notorious for planning (and thinking I can accomplish) significantly more than I'm able. I still get an awful lot done; but not as much as I plan (which is unrealistic, anyway).

So, when I say to people that I really DO want to get back to work (and, I can't imagine anyone out of work who doesn't want that; but, I'm told they exist), I not only mean I want to feel productive and get a paycheck (obviously); but I als cannot wait to get back to a more structured existence.