💾 Archived View for dece.space › notes › 20210924-unemployed.gmi captured on 2024-08-24 at 23:52:52. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Unemployed

I've stopped working a few months ago. Thanks to a very long freelance gig through 2020, I have enough money to not worry about missing paychecks for another few months.

This is very good to me. After a short period of rest at the end of the last job, I quickly got to work on things I wanted to: coding, music, reading, chess, running, cooking, seeing friends, meeting new people. I'll try to participate in Inktober this year, something I've missed during last years due to work. I finally had the mental and emotional resources to have important conversations with the person I love and live with. And I'm feeling WELL!

My friends and I are hostile to the payroll, but it is interesting to see that even for some of them having experienced or experiencing burn-out, the state of unemployment is still something they kinda fear, even though money is not always a threat to them (living with parents or eligible to welfare). The emptiness of the jobless days worries them more, along with societal pressure to “have it sorted out” by now (we're mostly in our late 20's).

I certainly do not have anything sorted out, and my days are far from empty. I have enough distance now to see that unemployment is thoroughly beneficial to me. Even waking up early feels natural now! Of course sometimes I can feel the pressure in other people's questions, or the anxiety of never finding an activity I can stick to for more than a year and a half (personal best record), but when I start reflecting on the happiness I'm getting from my days, taking this time is obviously the right choice. Can almost play all the guitars on Catch-33 by now!

Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree (warning: loud)

Not sure where this note is going. Don't fear boredom and fuck the 40 hours?