Life lessons | Self-realization

5 Positive Effects Of Unemployment On My Life

The word unemployment can be perceived as a negative concept, however, it had 5 positive influences on my life.

Becoming unemployed last year seriously rocked my world. It was tough adjusting after working my entire life. Drown in an ocean of sorrow or swimming were my choices. In the beginning, I was drowning big time.

Reflecting on my unemployment journey recently, I realized it impacted positively on my life in unexpected ways.

A year ago I never would have thought unemployment can have positive effects.

I thought my world ended and I was useless. My unemployment journey turned into a learning experience with positive effects because I changed the way I think about things.

Here is how the changes happened.

#1: Time to reflect and set goals In the beginning, I became depressed because my self-value was linked to working and being successful in my job.

My life-work balance was seriously out of balance. I lived for my work and neglected everything else in my life. I went to work when I was ill unless I was hospitalized.

And then suddenly I was unemployed. This poem describes events leading to my unemployment. Suddenly I felt useless, unwanted, and not appreciated with no idea how to proceed or deal with my situation.

Having nothing to do stopped me dead in my tracks en route to burnout. I had time to mill things over. In the beginning, it was negative thoughts consuming me. Nibbling away at my self-image. Why me? How could it happen if I was a hard-working employee?

Eventually, it dawned on me that it was not all bad news. I had time to take stock of my life and make adjustments. A re-alignment of values so to speak with new goals for the future me.

When I start work again I will ensure that I have a good work-life balance. I will concentrate on having a lot of ‘me-time’ to do more things I am passionate about on a regular basis.

#2: Walking and exercising in nature

During my depression phase, my psychiatrist recommended that I start to do sports or some form of movement activity. I love walking and decided to start to walk again.

I walked in the vineyards and forests. Time spent in nature has its own form of healing therapy as described in this photo story I published in March 2022.

I also lost weight from the exercise. People noticed the weight loss and made comments that impacted positively on my well-being. I decided to walk more and exercised regularly. Happy hormones were flooding my body.

#3: Eating homecooked meals

Having time available I started to cook homemade meals again. Cooking is a passion and a therapeutic process for me. I started to cook more balanced meals lower in calories.

Combined with walking cooking balanced meals had a major effect on weight loss and getting in shape. I lost about 15 kilos up to date.

When I start to work again later this year I will do meal preps and cook a bigger batch of different meals. It will be divided into portions to freeze. When I am not in the mood to cook I will heat the meals instead of opting for an easy takeaway.

#4: Discovering a new passion

During a meal out with a friend, we were chatting about life and sharing stories. He suggested I write my stories down. I didn’t think I was a writer but decided to give it a try.

Voila, I discovered Medium and writing as a new passion. Writing poems and stories, in general, helps me to relax and act as a release valve to get rid of stress.

#5: Loving and believing in myself again

A combination of the above-mentioned factors helped me to believe in myself again. I learned to love myself and live life in the current reality. Worrying about what happened in the past did me no good.

I learned to let bygones be. Focus on the here and now making the most of it.

Most of all I am glad that I had the time to reflect on the past and learn from my mistakes. Work is not everything. It does pay the bills but it shouldn’t consume your life like a ravenous lion.

Identifying the imbalances turned into learning stepping stones to restore my life. Therefore, I feel that unemployment had positive effects on my life.

Did life deal you with an unexpected joker card that turned out to have positive influences on your life? Let me know in the comments. I’m looking forward to hearing your stories.

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