According to a report by the U.S Bureau of Labor and Statistics, over 6 million Americans have been unemployed for over 27 weeks, and what's more, a little over a million more people have given up on finding a job. The numbers are scary, and it is even scarier if you are one of the long term unemployed.
Being unemployed is one of the most stressful and disheartening things you can go through. So, how can you keep yourself upbeat and optimistic during such a hard time?
Here are some tips for keeping your sanity when you've been out of work for awhile:
- Get out of the house- Isolation is your enemy. When you are alone for a large part of the day, it is really easy for depression to kick in. The scary thing about depression is that it is so hard to see it coming. Often, when someone is depressed, they don't even notice that they are having a problem. Most of the time, they just feel unhappy and think that everything is wrong in the world. So, get outside. Take a walk, schedule a weekly jog. Do whatever it takes to get out of the house and have some social contact.
- Make a schedule- Creating some daily or weekly structure can keep you from going crazy. One of the things that you find you miss the most about not going to work everyday (aside from the paycheck) is knowing what you will be doing at certain times. So, set aside time for networking and job searching but don't forget to schedule other activities as well.
- Start a project- Start something that you are excited about. Now is the time to try to accomplish one of those things that you have always wanted to do but never had the time. Learn a new skill, take a class, write a novel or whatever it is that you are a passionate about.
- Try something new- Take a chance and try something that you wouldn't normally do. Take a cooking class. Volunteer at a local non-profit. Sign up to teach English in a foreign country. Get out of your comfort zone and find something that you might be interested in.
- Travel- Go visit family out of town or plan a weekend away. If your budget is tight, even going to a nearby town for a day will help. For those who aren't able to get out of town, why not visit your own town as a tourist? Go sightseeing and visit all of the tourist sites.
- Count your blessings- Writing down the things you are grateful for everyday can do wonders for keeping depression at bay. I know that it may sound silly, but it is when you are at your lowest that you need to count the things you are grateful for the most. Even if you think that things are pretty bad right now, there are always things that you can be happy about.
Keeping sane when you are out of work is a challenge. Taking time to take care of yourself may seem selfish at first, but think of it as improving your job prospects. The thing is, you are more than your job or lack thereof. There seems to be an idea that if you don't have a job then you should work hard at getting one, and until then, you don't deserve to be happy. This isn't true, and we all know it. But if it helps, keep in mind that employers want to hire people who are enthusiastic and upbeat. So if you can't do it for you, then do it for your job hunt.
Are you looking for a new job in Communications? Take a look at CommunicationJobs.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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