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I've Been Unemployed for a Month

Sorry I haven't written here in a while. So much was happening in those first few months of the pandemic, and then it seemed like everything just kind of slowed to a crawl before it all went stale. Every day has been the same thing. People don't believe facts. People are getting sick. The pandemic isn't over yet. We need to stay home. We need a sense of normalcy. The numbers are down. The numbers are up. On and on and on in a never-ending loop.

Like many people, I fell into a sort of numb depression without even realizing it. The pandemic and quarantine weren't great for my mental health, and I stagnated. I kept on going through the motions, but it was all in a sort of half-conscious way. Fortunately, a few months ago I became aware of this and made some changes to improve my mental health and overall lifestyle. It seemed like everything was going to be alright again.

Then, after an incredibly stressful two months at work during which I worked and pushed myself harder than ever before in my life, I lost my job on October 9th.

Needless to say, the last month has been stressful as I've looked for jobs and tried to get affordable health insurance for me and my family, all while continuing to quarantine and navigate through this weird pandemic lifestyle.

However, I've maintained my optimism. While there's not a lot of opportunities locally for a writer of my skill set, there's quite a lot of companies elsewhere willing to hire remote workers, the tradeoff being that I'm potentially competing with a much larger talent pool. That said, the bottom line is that I know I'm a good writer, and my partner and I have enough money saved up to keep us afloat until the next job comes along (and while we wait for my unemployment pay to sort itself out). Losing my job has also allowed me to reassess what it is I want out of a career, which I'm grateful for.

I've been making the best of my time off. I've been hanging out with my daughter a lot, which has brought us closer together than ever, working through various house projects, which has helped keep me feeling productive, and generally just taking life one day at a time.


I wish you all the best of luck out there. Thanks for being a friend.

Stay healthy and sane.

-Ryan

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