A question that so many people are asking themselves right now--how did I get here? Many that I know are under-employed, unemployed, or have been asked to take massive pay cuts despite the fact that they've dedicated more than a decade to their employer.
Nine days ago, I joined those ranks.
While I'm still trying to wrap my head around the circumstances of my job separation, it doesn't really matter how or why I lost my job. My state of residency is an "at-will" state; that is, an employer can legally terminate an employee at any time for any reason. I may never truly know, or be able to come to terms with, why my former employer chose to surprise me on January 18 with a bag of my belongings thrown into my building's driveway.
In these first nine days, I have applied to over fifty jobs, been to four interviews, and have spent at least two hours daily scouring craigslist, Monster, the federal/state/county government job sites, and a score of other job resources. My blood pressure has almost doubled. My health insurance runs out on Monday. Struggling to fill the hours in between what seems to be an increasingly futile job search has become my unwanted vocation.
And so, I turn to writing as a solace. Determined to create a positive situation out of the proverbial lemons, I am vowing to use this time to renew old connections and create new ones. Time will be spent on all of the projects that I have wanted to accomplish over the years but have never finished or documented.
Let the games begin.
