Crafting a New Narrative and Using Unemployment as a Path to Creative Fulfillment
Unemployment Journal Day 91: Balancing Job Search with Creative Pursuits
You know all those hobbies and bucket lists things you want to do but never seem to have the time for? You should do them. Because when you sit down and list them all out, you come to the realization that life is passing you by.
I’ve been journaling about how I’m spending my time while unemployed. After writing the article, Unemployed? 65 Things to Do While You Search for Your Next Role, I was challenged to keep my readers updated on how I am ticking these ideas off my list.
I’ll list the previous entries below if you’d like to go back and read them. Full disclosure: I started with day 90 because I hadn’t thought of the idea until I was challenged.
Since I’ve been out of work, I’ve been changing my mindset and reframing how I refer to events or circumstances. For example, I now call trials “faith-building sessions” and I’m no longer saying how I “lost my job”. I now refer to this change in circumstance as I’ve “gained my freedom.”
And it’s true! I’ve had time to write every day on Medium, and the consistency is paying off. I am on track to hit my first $100 month.
Numbers 30 and 31 on my 65 things to do while you are unemployed list are:
- paint a room in your house or all the rooms, and
- rearrange the furniture
I won't be doing number 30 since we just had the house professionally painted two weeks before my freedom call. However, I did paint some furniture. I like to chalk paint and have had several projects turn out spectacularly well over the years.
When we moved into our tiny home, it came partially furnished. This brown chest served well in the laundry room for things like wrapping paper, batteries, and candles, but the brown finish was off-putting. The gray is modern and matches our freshly painted walls. I am pleased with the outcome and happy that I finally checked this off my list.
On the subject of rearranging the furniture, we did more than that. We rearranged rooms.
These park model homes come with tiny bedrooms — barely enough room to walk around and make a bed. My office was in the back of the house, in the addition that didn’t receive any direct sun all day. It was cold and too big for an office.
After ordering carpet for that room, my husband and I swapped the bedroom for the office. It was a full day’s work as we had to take the bed and desk apart to fit them through the doorways.
It was worth the effort. My bedroom is now roomier, with enough space for a contemplation corner, and my office is cozier and warmer because it receives the morning and early afternoon sun.
I’m grateful for this time to do things like paint furniture, write everyday, take long walks, and ease into slow mornings. The more I lean into my new life, the more I am considering how to make this freedom gift a gateway into early retirement!
Here’s the original story with 65 things to do when you are between jobs.
And here is Day 90, where I share how I’m working on my side hustle, which I hope will become my full-time hustle, and I’ll never have to have the this-is-your-last-day-with-the-company talk again — unless I talk to myself about it.
How do you stay busy in the in-between times of life? And how does slowing down redefine what busy means to you?
Mary Gallagher teaches women how to declutter so they can make room for what matters. She is the founder of The Decluttered Soul, a thriving Facebook community and membership. After decades of striving, she’s finally found her peaceful, decluttered writing space in a tiny home in the White Mountains of Arizona where the elk sleep under the Milky Way in her backyard. You can connect, stay in touch, and get support on Instagram, Pinterest, and The Decluttered Soul publication.
