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Weekend always is a welcomed relief for the unemployed as it is a break from the mundane of having to look for work and trying to stay active at home from 9am to 5pm during the week days. For me, weekend means a time of rest and relaxation – going for my favourite weekend rendevous with kopitiam friends watching EPL games or simplg chilling out in some coffee chains reading a book or my newspaper.

My family is still in Sydney and I miss the time out with them. I look forward to rejoining them after doing some work here for the unemployed. I should be back after a month or two in Sydney as my work here is still valid and significant.

When I was unemployed during the Sars period, time out with them was very theraupatic and relaxing. It also meant that I have survived the previous week of unemployment. Every week of unemployment is a period of trying to survive  unpredictability, low self esteem and trying to stay sober. Having survived 20 months of trying my hardest to thrive in staying above water in the raging storm, I must confessed  that it had hardened me for things ahead which I might be unprepared for if not for those valleys. There is every reason to say that I have learned to find meaning in my down time. Every one of us need to ask ourselves:  “What can I learn from this crisis? How can I emerge stronger from the event?”

Le t us not waste whatever we learned here but use  it to help others in need or strengthen our adversity quotient so that we can be a better person.

Having collected close to 7 interviews among the unemployed during the previous week day for my second book, I felt satisfied. This is a strange phenomenon as people tend to equate doing stuff tactively o finding life’s satisfaction. If you idle at home during unemployment, one tend to feel guilty and lousy about it.

Somehow, when we  began to actively look for work. attended some Spurs related training programmes or even go for some interviews, we felt that we have at least done  something meaningful to stay engaged with society.

Our DNA are all geared to work and since the  days when our forefathers all toiled in the fields to gather food for the families, especially for Asian men – they tend to feel lousy when they could not perform their roles well. Men seem to equate the breadwinner role very well into their profile especially if they are married.

However, these days, I see many men staying at home and women putting on their corporate coats for work. One  guy I knew even became a stay home husband tending after their three sons when he couldn’t find appropriate work. How I wished to interview him for my second book!

The current crisis has all but throw the whole breadwinner role out of the generational wind.

Men who are used to bring home the beacon now find themselves staying at home looking after children as their wives all get to stay in their jobs.I wonder how are our local men taking to this new role?

In Australia where I get to stay for the past six months before I returned home, families have no qualms about staying at home to look after the household as their wives work. Perhaps, Singaporean men need to lower their pride and discuss with their corporate wives about becoming house husbands. There are immense benefits to this domestic scheme as our children all suffer from having their parents working out late into the nights. Having one parent staying at home especially during their formative years sure help to ensure that our children have at least someone dear to them at home tending to their needs.

When I was unemployed, I was especially close to my young daughter daily bringing her to walk our pets and for our evening swim. These are things that I can’t do if I am fully employed. Though the past few years we were sometimes apart due to overseas work commitment, we emailed and sms often – missing each other alot but knowing their our relationship was fully intact. I remembered in Sydney last year, we cooked often together and the relationship was as close as ever.

As Singapore embraces a full year of bad news on the emplyment front,  let us learn to look for any positives in adverse situation. It is all for us to find out how even in a negativity, there is always something good that we can learn out of it.

So stay positive despite being jobless!

Related posts:

1. Organising a Time Table When You Are Unemployed
2. 7 Useful Ways To Spend Your Time While You Are Unemployed