Let’s face it: unless you are independently wealthy or have only a few months to live, unemployment sucks. It especially sucks if you are trying to find work day after day to no avail. This series will attempt to guide you through the morass that is unemployment in America.
Each addition to this survival guide will be written from the perspective of a 30-something man who is currently unemployed (unless a sympathetic reader finds me a job, or I continue to be unemployed until I hit 40). The intended audience is men who are either in a similar situation or just want to feel better about themselves for having jobs—whether they are fulfilling or not. I’m sure women and others who don’t identify as men will find the series interesting as well, although the argument can be made that employment status holds the utmost significance if you’re a man.
But without further adieu, here are four reasons why you shouldn’t feel bad for feeling bad if you find yourself unemployed:
1. Employment is tied to self-worth.
In the United States—on the East Coast for sure—a person’s worth (especially if that person is male) is often determined by that person’s job. The days of respect for the starving artist or Bohemian seem to be gone. In Washington, D.C., for example, the first question strangers will tend to ask is “what do you do?” Who you are is secondary. Believe me. I’ve lived there.
2. Applying for jobs is dull and often disappointing.
Applying for jobs is about as thrilling as waiting for a response from that incredibly attractive person you ‘matched’ with on a dating site. You know there’s an 80 percent chance you won’t hear back (especially if you’re an unemployed man).
3. It’s very hard to stay motivated and on task.
It’s hard to be productive when you don’t know what that means anymore. A lot of people need someone telling them what to do to be productive. Is it productive to go to fancy networking events for the chance to meet someone important to your career? Should you just apply cold to as many jobs as you can as quickly as you can? Should you pray? Should you read self-help books? Forget having fun: that just takes time away from apply, reject, punch a wall, repeat.
4. We all need money, healthcare, and other necessities.
This is an obvious one, but the biggest problem with not having employment is that it’s tied so strongly to someone’s livelihood in every way. What if citizens received a stipend from the government that was enough to meet their basic needs—along with universal healthcare—regardless of his or her employment status? This would make choosing a career a far better and more rewarding task. Instead of working to keep the lights on, people would work to make a real difference in the world—or at the very least to fully demonstrate their talents and creativity. Think of all the wasted potential every time an individual is forced to take just any job for the money and/or benefits. Would it benefit the world if, say, Einstein had been forced to take a job at Starbucks just to pay the bills?
There is no point to feeling bad about something that is mostly beyond your control. A man cannot simply snap his fingers and make a job appear (unless he works for the government or a very large company). It’s normal to feel like shit when you’re unemployed, regardless of what the self-help gurus say. Most of them are employed, after all—or at least make some money by selling you books.
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