Figuring out the routine of unemployment

So once the unemployed glow wore down a bit I realized that I couldn't just be unemployed.

I had to do something. The question was what?

That was something I hadn't asked myself in more than 20 years. I always knew what was next, whether it was editing a story, working with a difficult person or a career move I had the course plotted. 

In many ways my life revolved around work. It was what I did and I knew how to do it. I had down time when I wasn't working. I took vacation when I could get time off from work. I adjusted family schedules to work. 

Unemployment changed all that. I could do what I wanted to when I wanted to there was no work.

In the first few weeks it was easy to just let life happen. I went to bed when I felt like it and took naps during the day. I watched television shows that I had heard about but hadn't had time to watch.

It was a nice life. But a few weeks into it I realized I need more routine than just relaxing on the sofa reading a book or surfing the internet.

I needed a routine. I need the balance, order and purpose that routine brings. Without it the days were starting blend together. Without it was harder to prioritize and set goals on what needed to get accomplished and what didn't.

I started by giving myself a bedtime and more importantly a wake up time. Then I started setting weekly and monthly goals.

Top of the list was de-clutter my house. I made trips to Half-Price Books, dropped toys off at Goodwill and gave friends bags of outgrown children's clothes.

I filled in the blank spots in my flower beds and thinned out a few things before the Texas summer turned up the heat full blast.

Then there was the question of the job search. I made a work area for myself in the kitchen. I recycled a three ring binder and got an accordion file so that I keep track of paperwork.

I decided to spend my mornings going through websites, tracking down recruiters and updating cover letters as needed. It can take anywhere from an hour to more than four depending on what I find, but I know each day that I've done something to look for a job.

Afternoons and evenings, I run errands, cook dinner, hang with my kids. We go to the library on Wednesdays. They grumble and complain and do 30 minutes to 60 minutes on summer skills and review most afternoons.

In the evenings I write fiction or read fiction depending on how the mood strikes me.

Before I set a routine, everyday seemed like a weekend day. Now there's demarcation between Saturday, Sunday and the rest of the week.

On weekends I don't turn the laptop on first thing and unless I get an alert that needs immediate attention I don't do job searches on the weekend either.

Most mornings when I wake up, I don't wonder what I'm going to do today, I have a routine and I already know.