Headbands and Coffee Shops: Perks of the Jobless

There are many upsides to being unemployed: Ample time to do crafts, plan dinners, daydream, find interesting sites on the Web, stalk unbeknownst friends on Facebook, stare at walls, and other such community value-adding activities.

 However, unemployment also has its obvious downsides. Such as, the feeling of despair that the universe and obscure HR departments are vehemently against you. Or the seemingly complete annihilation of any self pride once one or more rejection letters start coming. It’s a brutal time in life. Sort of like not being asked to prom or getting cut from the football team repeatedly in a bad dream, a job quest can be heartbreaking.  

 Using myself as an example, I have been unemployed for a couple of months now and I have gone through waves of emotions. Happy emotions that I can finally fill my day with activities that a 9 to 5 would never allow, sad emotions of feeling worthless, creative emotions when I suddenly feel inspired, jealous emotions when I see working women out wearing their cute work outfits, and thankful emotions when I realize it could be so much worse. I could be back in my old job traveling for months losing my sanity whilst my creativity and passion is slowly eroded by the second. Or, my husband could be unemployed. Or, there could be no Internet to continue the refinement of my people-stalking skills. Gasp!

 So, I am seizing this beautiful day of unemployment and I encourage the rest of you job seekers to do the same. While the working world sits in meetings chugging down coffee to keep them quasi-awake, we the job-seekers of America are outside enjoying the last days of stunning fall.

 Right now, I sit at one of my favorite coffee shops wearing a headband that I made in a crafting flurry and am taking in the coffee-shop culture that I would never know if I was employed. If I were sitting at a desk in an office building, I wouldn't be wearing this headband and I wouldn’t be able to report that there is a strange man standing in front of me stretching his arms as if he were in a Yoga studio. Or I wouldn’t be able to witness the awkward collision of friends to the table to the right of me as they try to surface-talk their way out of any meaningful conversation. Or I might not be able to notice all the other Mac-mesmerized, foggy-eyed people sitting around me seemingly hating their lives.

 Perhaps they are job-searching as well.

 Perhaps we should start a support group.

Despite all the jokes, I am learning that one’s employment does not and should not dictate quality and stature in life. We are designed and destined for more: Passion, creativity, making beauty from chaos, enjoying life, and savoring time at coffee shops. Lucky for me, for the first time since age 16, I can finally relish in this time to listen and find out how I can make great use of a vocation instead of having my vocation dictate me.

 And that, loyal readers, is just another of the aforementioned upsides of being an unemployed, housewife-in-training.