Gainfully Unemployed: Life in the Trough

The phone rang this morning, and I sprung out of bed to get it. Despite the general groggy feeling I had, I answered it merrily with a courteous "Good morning," as I was not sure about who it was, because it was not my mother or father, who seem to be the only two people calling me these days. It turns out, one of the resumes I had submitted yesterday got the attention of someone in the Human Resources department of a company with a local job opening. Being surprised, and unprepared for an interview, I fumbled through the first few questions trying my hardest to continue the pleasant tone I had led off with. My dad did manage to call in the middle of it, but I obviously didn't answer.

Before it was through, the interviewer had gone through the usual array of gatekeeper questions, but hit me with a perplexing closing question, "What reason can you give me to pass your resume on to the hiring manager?" Taken aback and still feeling the effects of melatonin on my brain, I started to stutter through some nonsensical answer when I realized, to my advantage, the call had dropped. I used the minute to collect my thoughts, and when the interviewer called back I had a smart concise answer prepared for her. I honestly can't say I remember a word of it, but it sounded good then, and as far as I know my application has been pushed ahead.

The past month has been absolutely abysmal. I have been sleeping about sixteen hours a day. I eat infrequently, and when I do eat, I eat garbage. I am running out of money. The last check from my last job has been holding me over while I wait for unemployment to kick in. I won't even go into any of the details, because honestly, it's too lousy and pathetic to describe. Bottom line: I'm broke, depressed, and unemployed.

I say this knowing full well that a good 6.7% of the workforce is unemployed, and that I am just one of a much greater population. All of us through whatever unfortunate circumstances are now stuck without the cash flow we were used to. I, unfortunately, was not ready for this, as my ex-job was my first real job. I had not been working long enough to get together an emergency fund and have admittedly been a little loose with my money. I am young, I have a lot to learn, a lot to gain from this experience. I, like the rest of the unemployed, should have confidence in the economy and myself. This is a unique experience, as suddenly I have an oversupply of time, which was once worth much more, now it is dirt cheap, deflated, free. From here on out it's only up...Right?