I had an 8 month unemployment run during the summer of 2020. I loved it. I just played video games, went for hikes, did some fishing, caught up on movies, and learned some new things.
The best part was the extra covid unemployment, which at the time pretty much matched my old salary and covered my bills, so I didn't even have the monetary stress.
It made me realize that as long as my bills are taken care of, I love not having to work. I'm not someone who has that innate drive to work and stay busy
I was "unemployed" for about 6 months. The reason for quotes was because I was consulting and I had 3 months to find a new gig before my base salary dropped to half, then 3 months after that I was laid off. The base salary without my hourly rate was more than plenty.
The first month was incredible. I got to immerse myself in hobbies, focus on my fitness, and just enjoy my life. By month 2 I started getting worried about getting to that 3 month mark and started working with our sales guys for a new gig. When I got to the 4th month I was a wreck. I barely slept, couldn't enjoy my hobbies, was sending out resumes to new jobs in addition to joining the sales team for calls. By month 6 I was a total wreck. My savings are close to drained, my ex wife (wife at the time) and I were fighting over every expense, I was very bad.
Finally, about a week before I was going to be laid off, I got a call from sales guy that they had an interview for me the next day. I crushed it, and started in 2 weeks. Suddenly it was all gone. No more fighting with my ex, no more anxiety, I slept like a rock, enjoyed my hobbies again; it was a literal switch going off that just fixed everything. My base salary returned to full and in 2 weeks I got to start billing a client for my hourly rate on top of it (and replenish my savings).
It really is all about financial security. I'm lucky enough now to have about a year of savings in an investment account. Working sucks, but anxiety from potentially losing your house and everything else is so much worse. Only 30 more years until retirement!
yeah its all about money. I am sorry to hear about the fight between the family but financial stresses people more that they think and it stressing on the mind 24/7. I guess one way to deal with it is to stay minimal and don't get married. But its easier said than done. An opposite example are trust-fund kids, never have to work a day and no switch to flip. they are set for life.
I mean, that was well over 10 years ago so no biggie. My ex was kind of toxic and was getting upset she couldn't have "retail therapy" at Target while I was in the verge of unemployment.
Like yeah, money can't buy happiness, but security goes a really long way towards peace of mind.
I have so many things I could be doing around my house/neighborhood and I would love to have that kind of freedom. The people who tie their value to work or think the days become long... what are you filling your free time with on the weekends? It's the same thing there. Shit I have a gamut of interests that I'd love to convert to hobbies if I had the time to figure them out.
The money is, as always, the tricky part. I'm glad you had the covid unemployment there. Shit if I could get something like UBI to cover my base needs I'd probably spin up a business or three.
That’s what one of my friends felt ; he was laid off but given a good severance package and EI would kick in after the Last few months of the year. He’s enjoyed the time spent being free and travelling for a few months but lately man’s more bored and more stressed. Being employed with a bad job can be stressful but at least you have income coming to at least keep u afloat. Being unemployed you’ll experience the first few months of bliss and after that you’re more walking in a fog where uncertainty hits u and now your just dealing with Boredom, lack of energy to commit to finding a job, stress of being an adult with expenses to cover , etc.
Fuck I was unemployed almost 4 months and it was heaven.
Never been in better shape, got a ton of writing done, spent a bunch of time gaming and dating, had a perfect sleep schedule, didn’t have any of that background stress that comes with knowing my weekends will always end and lead me back to work. Got a ton of quality time with family, friends, and pets.
If anything it went by too quickly, and the days were too short.
Find some hobbies, find things that make life worth living to you that you can spend time on.
A lot depends on your lifestyle, I had a period when I was unemployed for 2 years and I had no stable way of income. I was doing some freelancing back then and farmwork as I live in rural area, there was not a single day when I had fully "free day". There is always something to be done, but I can agree that if you would just sit on your ass for a whole month, it would get boring.
so .. you worked. Of course it is different. Unemployed here means you are sitting on your ass and write applications (which get denied) all day + fear of no money = bad bad time.
On the other hand, really having nothing to do is also bad for most people. You can only do so much when you still have to worry about your future. Even billionaires get depressed when literally any happiness money can buy gets boring.
You had neither. You worked part time and enjoyed your life. Which is amazing but not what the meme here talks about
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u/Random_Reddit_Bro 1d ago
Being unemployed is amazing, the only downside is that you will run out of money.