The Zen of Unemployment, an open thread

I’ve been unemployed for exactly two months as of today. In these two months I’ve learned a lot about what matters to me, and have gained some interesting perspectives on health, happiness, and life’s greatest antihero, the unstoppable force of time.

I think I willfully ignored the amount of my own self-worth I had tied up in my ability to perform my job functions while at work. I picked a stressful, difficult, and high visibility career because it made me feel the most personal value when I didn’t fail. “I succeeded in this when most others struggle. Therefore, I am good!”

The hidden costs of this kind of emotional dependence on my work revealed themselves when life asked me to justify my existence outside of work. “I am struggling to finish basic household tasks in a day that should only take about an hour! Therefore, I am garbage!” And just like the garbage, I can’t take myself out. The good news here is that my antihero, the passage of time, had my back. Over time I got better at being at home. I stopped drinking, which improved both my mental and physical health, developed a pitifully slim scoped but achievable-for-me routine for cleaning the floors and dishes, and started walking my dogs each day to cut their energy down. I also quit ordering delivery food and spent time cooking, which benefitted my diet but also got me to the end of the day more quickly.

Improving my quality of life is a slow process and I’m not as consistent with any of these changes yet as I’d like to be. Part of the challenge is that it isn’t guaranteed to make me happy the way that performing at work did. I wrote before that I sometimes feel the most fulfilled I have ever felt, and other times I just want to sleep for days. That’s still true, but I consider each time I accomplish a middleground state a win. Consistency is the end goal and the smaller goals in between keep me heading that direction. Someday I will achieve my goal of making my bed. Someday.

The more I think about my life adjustments over these past few months, the more parallels I see to the process of overcoming addiction. I have to rebuild a life, bake in healthy routines, and come to terms with what reality actually looks like. It isn’t a perfect simile, but the process feels like it rhymes. I also feel like I finally empathize with people who struggle to transition into retirement. It’s still different because I have the fear of running out of money hanging over my head, but I finally get why having hobbies isn’t enough to conquer the absolute ocean of time an unscheduled day contains. I spend each morning from 9am to 2pm working on board games design, marketing, and asset approvals but I struggle to get from 2pm to dinner, and from dinner to bedtime. I still open half a dozen video games a day and close them after playing for 10 minutes, unable to trick my brain into getting into the flow. There are other hobbies for me to pour time into, but switching gears between them is difficult. Whichever one I commit to in the morning is what I’ll do until mid-afternoon, and then I’m stuck trying to fill time. It’s part of the reason I’ve been writing less, I think – I spend my creative juice on the board game stuff and then run out of gas for anything else.

I keep telling myself that time is my ally, but it really is a double edged sword. It might eventually bake in my habits, add up my incremental successes, and increase my creative and physical stamina for activity. But it also composes the mountain I must climb to reach the end of the day, and operates the countdown timer until my unemployment transitions from an inconvenience to an emergency. It’s both the method by which I can achieve comfort in my own skin and the direct cause of my discomfort and anxiety. Ironically, waiting enough time is also the only thing that can get me to a solution, rehired and questioning how I’ll retain these positive changes when I get back to work.

 

That’s all from me for now. It was really nice to post again and I’ll try my best to get back on a schedule. See you in the comments!

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Alex_Demote
Game designer, junk collector, paint chip taste tester
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BeefReeferLives

Good gravy, people. It was RIGHT THERE the whole time!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XcKBmdfpWs

Gumbygirl

I have to get up before 6 tomorrow, Gumby has a minor heart procedure tomorrow. It’s actually a workup for a more invasive thing that he’ll be having soon. I need to get some sleep, au revoir, mes amies!

BeefReeferLives

Hope everything goes as smoothly as possible for the both of you…

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Found a funny while looking for a Cheers gif:

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yeah right

Congrats Denver. A very likeable team, a very fun city with good beers and solid food and as long as you stay in the big city relatively wing nut free.

Plus a solid baseball experience and the best concert venue I’ve seen to date.

Good on ya.

Gumbygirl

Oh look, here I am! [ wanders aimlessly from room to room]

Sharkbait

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Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

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Wakezilla

“I spend my creative juice on the board game stuff and then run out of gas for anything else.”

This is very relatable.

That’s great to read you’re doing well and finding yourself while being in-between jobs. That sounds like something I need to do, and God knows my boss would love to make that happen as she is a terrible person.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Two weeks into the playoffs the Nuggets appeared inevitable, and it turned out they were.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Enos owns the Nuggets? Get the fuck out of here.

Mr. Ayo

Lol, the mic is not in Lisa’s ear, old man.

Mr. Ayo

Congrats, Stan Kroenke. Maybe splurge for a better wig now.

WCS

Three championships in three years. When will old, uber-rich white guys catch a damn break?!

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Congrats

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Brocky

Congratulations hippo, if you’re a fan, IDk

Brocky

So not gonna lie, I thought one of the perks of espn plus was seeing nba games live.

Kinda regret getting the disney package

Mr. Ayo

RTD, what are your thoughts on the call and subsequent replay?

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Absolute trash.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

When people (like me) complain about the NBA being rigged to extend series, this what they are talking about.

Mr. Ayo

I could maybe excuse the call, but to go through a replay and uphold that call?

Madness!

BrettFavresColonoscopy

I’d say this game is a barnburner but I do not give a fuck

BrettFavresColonoscopy

(about basketball or barns)

Sharkbait

So just burning stuff then. Good to know…

Brocky
Brocky

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WCS

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Let the pro handle this.

Brocky

Tenor is fucking worthless

WCS

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Brocky

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WCS

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2Pack

Thanks for sharing this. It’s funny how chores that benefit the household have such a deep effect on us some time. A simple job well done can be so calming.

SonOfSpam

Actor Treat Williams died today at 71 in a motorcycle accident.

And Aaron Judge lost his AL home run lead because of a toe owie.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly
WCS

This is pure, uncut ’80s in it’s most elemental form.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Alright, I got distracted with work, had an overly indulgent dinner with a friend in from out of town, and just made myself a new cocktail (as in first time I’ve made this particular libation). So where were we? OH YEAH, MORE BASEBALL MOVIES. Buckle up, buckaroos, here’s the stuff I didn’t get to in the draft:

BrettFavresColonoscopy

When Harry Met Sally, pivotal moment in the batting cages and he tells his best friend about his divorce while at a baseball game. The meow shit is funny, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GDvfFN73Q

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Happy Gilmore. Fuck you, it counts, he’s in a batting cage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wTJ56RmG9g

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Super Troopers, don’t forget little Arlo’s little league game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K4ZStD8lmI&t=64s

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Would probably have been my scraping the bottom of the barrel pick if you all had chosen some of the better ones from my draft board, but Benchwarmers wasn’t completely irredeemable (close though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U3XAPNRRnY

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Similarly, I wasn’t all that wild about Mr. 3000 but it was serviceable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS-AID2YPiU

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Suck it, DeNiro, Office Space had a better use of a baseball bat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wsjroVlu8

BrettFavresColonoscopy

I mentioned it earlier, but Men In Black 3 III’s baseball work was quite nice, even if the movie was meh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uw57I5SD8s

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Any movie that beats the shit out of Rob Schneider is fine by me, and 50 First Dates is no exception

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBFSf3euva8

BrettFavresColonoscopy

White Savior Complexes aside, Hard Ball was cute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb7Gupu3M2Y&t=31s

BrettFavresColonoscopy

And that’s without having to touch any of the Angels in the Outfield bullshit or Ed and the other crap Eli drafted. God, I love baseball movies.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Oh, and there isn’t a movie I drafted or otherwise posted that I haven’t seen. Hence I couldn’t pick that Jon Hamm movie about the cricket players turned pitchers, Million Dollar Arm.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

MIB2 was meh. MIB 3 was more “fine, I guess.”

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

I’ll squeeze in one last one: Road Trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-thkxMD5Bmk

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Good pull

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

“He cheated on you. Twice. Then once again in the morning.”

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Been a long time coming…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Coincidentally, this has been in my head tonight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFgqJs2YNyo

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

The Miami Heat remind me a lot of the Legion of Boom era Seahawks, in that their “defense” consists of pushing the boundaries of what the officials will call and how often they will call it. They’re basically daring the officials to make the game unwatchable.

SonOfSpam

This song is terrible but it’s full of cromulent advice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH-i8IvYIcg&ab_channel=OffspringVEVO

Horatio Cornblower

Someone in that band has a PhD in molecular biology or something like that. I think the singer.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Definitely not the drummer they kicked out for being antivaxx: https://people.com/music/offspring-drummer-removed-from-band-after-refusing-covid-19-vaccine/

SonOfSpam

Yes, Dexter has an advanced degree, but before you get overly impressed it’s from USC I think.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

USC I think.

– a USC student when asked how to spell “cat”

SonOfSpam

“Yes, very good!”

-L. Michele

Doktor Zymm

I love me some unemployment, as long as I’m not in Guangzhou or Belgium the time flies by and it’ll be far too soon when I have to go back to whatever it is I do for a living

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

According to Balls you assassinate people.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

But according to Beastmode you are a scientist.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

So I really don’t know who to believe.

Dunstan

“Scientists assassinate people all the time. With vaccines!” — RFK, Jr.

Horatio Cornblower

“I just think Bobby’s cute.”

-Cheryl Hines

ballsofsteelandfury

Clearly, it’s both.

Horatio Cornblower

Ric Ocasek married Paulina Porzikova. That’s good!

He was 46 and married when they met, and she was 19!

That’s bad!

The wedding cake was made of Frogurt!

You see where this is going.

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Oh. I actually wouldn’t mind terribly if some whacko called in a bomb threat and they had to postpone Trump’s arraignment for a day, because that would mean he’d be getting arrested on his birthday.

LemonJello

How about he can’t make bail for some reason and has to spend his birthday in jail?

Doktor Zymm

I don’t think he would be allowed candles, but maybe he could make himself a birthday crown out of some toilet paper donations

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

We could be looking at the final game of the NBA season tonight. I’m kind of bummed that r/nba is closed because I want to see people griping about the officials, and do some of my own griping. I guess I’ll try doing it here.

COME ON! THESE REFS ARE LETTING MIAMI GET AWAY WITH MURDER!

LemonJello

When did Tony Montana sign with Miami?

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Downfield Matriculator

Right after his little friend, Kyle Lowry

ballsofsteelandfury

More embarrassment!

https://youtu.be/JwQZQygg3Lk

WCS

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ballsofsteelandfury

That minus is tough but fair

ballsofsteelandfury

No one posted this yet?? For shame!

https://youtu.be/C-u5WLJ9Yk4

scotchnaut

Was this the theme song at anyone else’s basketball camp way back when?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRzXNf7j8T8&ab_channel=VJDadoKeller-ThePlaylists

ballsofsteelandfury

Can’t believe I missed that one!

SonOfSpam

TICKING AWAY THE MOMENTS THAT MAKE UP YOUR DULL DAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-Ms_ek-kE&ab_channel=PinkFloyd

scotchnaut

Lea Michele singing along- “Lime keeps on clicking, clicking, clicking into the food turd. I want to fly like a beagle to the sea. Fly like a beagle, let food turd carry me.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zT4Y-QNdto&ab_channel=chinita41

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

— [sleazy Hollywood producer’s door flies open] —

With regards to employment, how comfortable are you with the label “scab”?

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herodotus450

This is a satire post, for the record, and Alex has actually been gainfully employed here at DFO for the last year, as it is on record that he accidentally spilled that bucket of acetone on all of our priceless, but insured, works of art at Headquarters. Such a shame that all the paint got washed away in that freak rainstorm, and that we were temporarily storing the art outside, and all that’s left are blank, very clean looking canvases.

litre_cola

Did he gently use all our fleshlights?

ballsofsteelandfury
ballsofsteelandfury
ballsofsteelandfury
ballsofsteelandfury
WCS

Oh, we do.

ballsofsteelandfury
ballsofsteelandfury

Are we doing a special Alex Request Line with the theme being time?

You betcha!

https://youtu.be/8tI1_KlO6xI

ballsofsteelandfury

Making beds is way overrated.

I haven’t made mine in two months.

scotchnaut

[snorts] “I haven’t had a bed since the summer of ’92!”

J. Tomsula, parts unknown

Mr. Ayo

Totally agree. My bed is only made during the monthly visit from the cleaning folks.

Don T

Forget laundry. Those sheets need a foster home.

King Hippo

I bet you could plan the shit out of a bank heist. And we in the Clubhouse is always up for a caper. MAKE IT A REALITY, Donks WOO!!!!!!

King Hippo

And if he sucks again, we can frame Charmslinger for it!

WCS

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