A year of unemployment???
Yeah, you read that right, I said a year. I downplayed my situation a little bit because it’s been more than a year actually lol oops… If I’m doing the math correctly then I’ve been unemployed for about 18 months now give or take a couple of weeks but whatever I’m done with school so no more math (I hope).
I honestly wasn’t supposed to be unemployed this long but yet here I am still unemployed (send help). It’s not my fault though. I blame covid and the government and those fake job postings on indeed.
They said covid was only gonna last a couple of months but they lied. Am I surprised? Nope! I’m more surprised that I actually believed them. I normally don’t even trust the government so I don’t know why I thought I could trust them in this situation. I’m just annoyed that it’s been going on for almost 2 years now and there’s still no signs of improvement.
A couple of months turned into a year and now I’ve been unemployed for a year and a half. It hasn’t been all bad though. I turned my unemployment situation into a gap year which was very much needed after graduating college. 16 years of school… yikes I needed a break.
I had a lot of free time perhaps a little too much free time not gonna lie I kinda was getting sick of myself. Did I use that free time wisely? Probably not but at least I learned a couple of things from unemployment.
Here’s what I learned from a year of unemployment:
The number one main thing that I learned from my unemployment journey was that the career path I was on wasn’t right for me. I ended up graduating college at home with a biology degree when we were 2 months into the pandemic and after that, I was all set to attend nursing school the following semester. I did attend some classes virtually for a week but after that, I decided to be done for good.
I was already having doubts about nursing because of covid and knew I was gonna quit before I started the classes but I still decided to give it a chance before officially quitting just in case I changed my mind. But I was scared of getting sick and was struggling mentally with my anxiety so ultimately I didn’t end up changing my mind.
I was done with nursing. I didn’t want to be a travel nurse anymore. I quit… I gave up that career path because I did not want to get sick, I didn’t want other people to get me sick. I couldn’t risk my health for other people and I know that sounds like such a horrible thing to say but I had to worry about myself and my health. My anxiety was so out of control that I didn’t leave the house for the first 6 months of the pandemic (I was down bad).
And no I’m not sad that nursing didn’t work out because it wasn’t even my dream. I wasn’t in love with nursing. It was my parents’ dream for me and it was a safe dream to pursue. I’ve always been good at school and I think I would’ve done well in nursing school but I wouldn’t have been happy continuing my education and becoming a nurse (especially in this pandemic).
I honestly didn’t even like school, I just happened to be good at it. I would’ve been fine with not going to college at all but it was expected of me and let’s be honest you need an education if you want a job (most of the time). I’m happy that I ended up quitting when I did because if I didn’t then I wouldn’t have been able to get my money back and I would be stuck with even more student loans that I don’t want to pay back.
I had a lot of time to think during my unemployment journey. I thought about myself, my future, and my dreams… I want to have a great life and a great career but more than anything I want to be happy. I want to be happy with my life and my career. I don’t know exactly what I want my career to be but I know that I don’t want to be miserable and stuck in a career I don’t want or like.
I know I made the right decision because how could I be a nurse if I was scared to get sick? How could I be a nurse if I wasn’t in love with nursing? If I was a nurse in this pandemic I would have quit (sorry not sorry).
I wish I knew exactly what career I want to pursue but I’m way too indecisive. I have a couple of ideas in my head, I just need to figure out which one is the right one for me. I’m fine with being unemployed for now until I figure things out. My only problem is my online shopping addiction. It’s bad I need help or a job.
So that’s what I learned from a year of unemployment. Can you relate to being unemployed for such a long time or is it just me? Comment below to let me know 🙂
