Q: I just lot my job and received a generous payout.
However, the problem is that I now have a lot of free time and do not know what to do with it. Do you have ideas for dealing with being unemployed?
A: For starters, let me caution you about the payout you received from your previous employer. It probably seems like a lot of money but when you break it down for a living allowance over the next few months, you will likely find that it is disappearing faster than you thought it might.
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In fact, right now, you need to be careful with your finances. If ever there was a time in your life to build some great skills in money management, it would be now.
Here is the thing. You do not want to take your next job just because you are feeling the pinch and you need extra money. If you handle your money well right now, you can take your time forging your career path.
That brings us to your next asset. You have time now, more time than you have had for most of your life. Don’t waste it. Between your local community college, online courses through your computer and the course outlines for either technical school training or university admission, there are numerous opportunities for you to use this time to step forward in your professional development.
The hard part is putting all of those opportunities on a sheet of paper and figuring out which are most relevant for you. It bounces back and forth between “who am I” and “who do I want to become.”
The thing with “who am I” is trickier than it might seem. Most of us spend much of our lives trying to figure out who we are in our personal growth and development. Unfortunately, it will not work if you spend your free time lying in bed late in the morning and not greeting the day.
The “who am I” is the guy who bounces out of bed in the morning, dresses neatly and greets the rest of the family at the breakfast table. He is the guy who finds everything just so very interesting but who, over time, finds himself bending one direction or another, perhaps finding within himself more in common with management than with the guys in production, or the other way around.
It might mean finding that he is more into exploration and discovery than in intervening and doing, the difference between a doctor and a nurse. Or preferring to be on the seat of a tractor than sitting in a carpeted legal office.
The more completely you live your life in this moment of passivity, the greater are your chances of learning about yourself and using that discovery to engage in those future jobs and professional development that are in keeping with who it is you are as a person.
That is the formula for future success.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor from Saskatchewan. Contact: jandrews@producer.com.
