Today marks the first day that I am unemployed – my teaching contract ended yesterday.
It was a bittersweet experience for me as though I cherished the enforced new freedom, I sensed that this time round, the economy seems to be worse off than during the Sars period. It is a sentiment shared by many people.
I woke up later than usual at 9am and the feeling is shitty to say the least as my head lifted from the pillow.
It was good that I have scheduled to see some people during the day to ensure that I have spent my time fruitfully. As I need to interview at least 20 people for my second book, I tried to schedule at an interview or two a day to fill up the gruelling free time on hand. My schedule for this week is almost fully book.
I also took the drastic step to move away from a more expensive room to a basic common room in a HDB flat. The difference in rental was about $350 and I felt better – at least financially. I managed to be able to control the situation so called.
Some kind friends have offered advice to look on the bright side and “to take it as a long break from work”. Others have commenetd “Again?” when I told them that I am jobless.
I felt that I am better prepared now than the previous period of joblessness when I was still a first timer. At least, I dont have to worry about the huge mortgage that I had ($350,000) during the Sars period and the many credit lines that I owed to the banks. Now, I only need to worry about paying my room rental of $300 a month and feeding myself daily. My family is self sufficient by themselves in Sydney. I may also drop by next month to visit them once things are settled here.
A three-time unemployment warrior friend told me that each time he was laid off, the pressure of being unemployed felt lesser than the previous time. “If you don’t still learn from all the previous retrenchment experiences, then something is wrong with you,” he quipped. I agreed with him.
I have also interviewed some already for my second book and a few were retrenched at least thrice. It was common to see people getting retrenched twice here and this time round, many were already battle-hardened before during Sars and the financial crisis in 1997.
As for me, I am prepared to also volunteer my time at Bizlink – a welfare body for the disabled at least half a day weekly to get in touch with the community. Somehow, I feel that by doing something constructive, it will also benefit me in return. What you sow you will also reap…
I am also starting to give free talks to the community on how to survive unemployment. There are at least two potential serious engagement coming up soon and the first one will be on 20 April (Mon) at my counselling training academy. I hope to do more of such public talks to benefit the community.
Hopefully, all this will reinstall back the self esteem value within me which many people told me were missing when they were laid off.
Many of us associated our self worth to what we are doing at work here. The psychology of work is a myserious one of which many of us attach our self esteem to. I often ask the question “Are we spending too much time at work and should we not lessen our focus in the office?”. I hope that the crisis will help many workers to live a more balanced lifestyle. Too many of us live our life immersing ourselves in work. As we go out of job, we feel directionless and some even find life meaningless!
Moreover, the higher we climb up the corporate ladder, the steeper will be the drop in esteem when we are being laid off.
Many executives find it difficult to adjust back to a lower position in a new job as it not only mean a lower salary package but also a drastic shift in the duties of the position.
Some executives who have people reporting to them suddenly find themselves reporting to someone younger and having to do all the lower level work that their juniors have being doing all along at the former job.
As we all go through a very difficult phase of the journey this year, let us look for whatever positives we can find from this dreadful period and emerge much tougher than before as we hold on to each other in unity.
I will also try to document my thoughts as an unemployed here as often as I can so that readers can identify and find strength from such sharing.
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