The Unemployment Chronicles Part 1

Today I filed my second weekly request for unemployment benefits from the state of Virginia. Since I did not register the week that I was fired, I believe that this marks my third week of unemployment.
I’m not sure how many applications I’ve submitted so far, but I’ve been looking for work pretty steadily. I feel that I should have had at least one interview by now, but so far no one has called me back.

The wife is pretty stressed out about the entire situation, and it is pretty obvious that she is becoming increasingly frustrated by my unemployment. It’s not that I don’t feel the same way. But if I don’t keep my composure, I’ll have trouble focusing on the task at hand. The inertia of my negative feelings will make it harder for me to stay positive, and what both Lindsay and I need right now is to stay positive.

I’m not a fan of the new yuppy-friendly new-age philosophy of The Secret and other Oprah book club types. But I do believe that we can manifest different situations and opportunities. If I allow myself to be overtaken by inertia, then it will be harder to find a job.

With any luck, I’ll find something that I really enjoy doing. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what kind of work I would like to do. It always seemed that everyone else knew what it was that they were supposed to be doing with their lives. I have never had any idea what to do with myself. It’s frustrating beyond belief. There are many things that I like doing, but nothing that I can see as becoming a career. So I’m hoping that from the extremely negative experience of losing my job I can build something positive and find what it is that I am here to do. Even if I don’t start down that career path immediately, it would be nice to have some idea of where I’d like to end up.