Why I Will Miss Unemployment
If it wasn’t for the money, would you really want to work?
Let’s be honest with ourselves here, many of us have been jealous at some point in time looking at celebrities or trust fund kids or those who retired at 40 with side-eye, loathing the fact that they can simply do nothing.
I remember when I first graduated I had this pit in my stomach realizing that I won’t get a break anymore. How I knew from this point onwards, I will constantly be working. No more summer or spring breaks. It would just be 4 days at most every six months of time off…if I got that lucky.
How sick is that? To live your youthful years stuck behind a desk or hustling to just pay the rent and then once it's all said and done you’ll be able to relax when your limbs are not as feeble as they use to be. The system is broken,
but we don’t have to get into the obvious.
So whenever I would see people who could just be doing nothing, I was upset because I want to be able to travel while I am young. I want to explore the places and do the things I want to do while I am young. I don’t want it to be spent having to always hustle for a trip I’ll have for a few days and then start all over again. By that point, you are itching for a break. The only place you want to be is in your bed.
And then I was suddenly out of a job(s) and on unemployment and it felt
nice.
The worst part was not being able to go anywhere with all the time on my hands because you know, a pandemic and all, but the freedom of just pure leisure was exhilarating.
Maybe my skin was so clear because I was not stressed about anything but my health and my family. No one yelling at me. No deadlines or deliverables. I made my own schedule. I carved the time that I had for my creative hobbies.
To me, I could breathe and not feel pressured to relax.
To be fair, I was always still doing something. Perhaps that is the indoctrination of capitalism at its finest, but I rarely “did nothing.” And after a while, all of those people who don’t have a job do get bored with their lives, especially if they’ve done all that they can do. I’m sure many of us would.
I don’t necessarily want to be retired at 30 (but if I had the means I would), I’m saying that we deserve a long ass break. Unless you’re freelance, most of us do not get the luxury of taking off a month or more. And even then you are burdened with having to find a job in the meantime. Not only is there no luxury of a deserved break, but there is no means to keep yourself afloat. America is a long way away from making unemployment a livable wage. And until then, the possibility of taking long-term time off is off the table.
Now that my unemployment is up and I’ve moved anyway, a job is in order. Now mind you I’ve been looking for a job since April of 2020. I have still yet to find what I’m looking for. But in the meantime, I have a job that will pay, so I’m going to take it.
This is my last day of unemployment. And god forbid a worse pandemic comes our way, but I am still afraid that this was it. This was my time. And I won’t get that again.
