How Unemployment Can Change Your Life
Photo of me shortly after leaving a job in 2019.
I was laid off in 2017 and had my job eliminated again in 2019.
During my months of unemployment, I felt like I was entering a void. I had put so much weight in what I do for work as my identity, that when those jobs disappeared, I felt like I was in an identity crisis.
It was during those months without a full-time job I started to fill the blank space. Beyond job searching, I started volunteering at the local food pantry in my neighborhood. I would bike to yoga a few mornings a week, then get an apple-filled croissant at the bakery next door. I tried coaching youth soccer. I took sewing classes. And I took American Sign Language classes to explore Deaf Culture and learn a new visual language. It was navigating the void in my career that I realized: unemployment, through it’s ups and down, was the gift that allowed me to find more of myself than any experience I had at that point in my life.
We humans in mainstream culture live under the constant pressure of a capitalist society.
A culture that teaches us that our identity is what we do for work, the number on our paychecks, and how far we've climbed the ladder to the top contributes to our worth.
A culture that teaches us that the less we contribute to that capitalist system - the less money we earn and the less money we spend on consuming, the less value we have.
But this is an illusion.
Unemployment can force us to face our humanity, outside of how we contribute to a capitalist system.
What do you do with your time when not putting time and energy into earning a paycheck? How do you manage expectations both you own and those of your family and loved ones who expect you to be employed (because capitalist culture)? In moments of high anxiety or feeling low and depressed, what helps you remember that you have worth and are worthy of joy?
Some may answer with “try to find a job”. But I’m talking about the time we spend outside of job searching, which just puts us right back into the box of money earners and spenders.
Your life is not on hold because you have a career break. This time is your life. You do not need to earn your joy. You can indulge in activities that nourish you. You can do them because you love them. Because they fill your cup. Because they make you feel alive. When you are faced with blank space, what do you do? Do you need to be intentional and structured with your time or can you roam free, get lost in your imagination and creativity, and wander in a way that energizes you?
Unemployment forces us to learn lessons about the world, and about ourselves, that we wouldn't necessarily learn when we are in it as a cog in the capitalist machine.
But when routines, stability, plans and priorities are uprooted, it can feel like we’re on shaky, loose ground. But it’s in loose soil that we can plant the seeds of new possibilities. Explore worlds unknown. We can water the seeds with curiosity. And the ones that will grow will be the ones that give us oxygen and energize us. And those will be the ones we want to shine our light on, to use with our unique skills to grow and cultivate.
Periods of unemployment can be uncomfortable, stepping into the unknown. But it’s during our experience of unemployment where we learn what we needed to learn about ourselves and the world. Unemployment can changes how we see ourselves and how we exist in the world. It’s when we tend to the gardens of possibility.
My one hope for you is that you find exactly what you need to be more of yourself. 💜
Lauren, a white women with brown hair, sitting in black outdoor chair in front of a blurred brick walkway with colorful umbrellas hanging above. She is looking off to the left. Her hair is in a high bun and she is wearing pink glasses, large pink circular earrings, a white iridescent hearing aid tube, and a blue jean jacket.
If feelings of career identity crisis and discomfort navigating a void resonates, let me help you be the leader who trusts their own voice, makes a difference in their work, and feels energized and happy along the way. Hiring me as your personal coach and we’ll make some transformative magic together!
Book an exploratory call to see how we can best work together.
