Things To Do While Unemployed

1) Check your credit report. I just did this today, and no wonder my score is so low...they've misreported tons of stuff. So, this will occupy me for days, filing disputes and whatnot. Busy work, indeed. It bites that your entire life is based on a score that is most likely not accurate at all, anyway.

2) Clean out your closets. I started slowly doing a little "spring cleaning" since I know we'll be moving soon (whether locally or somewhere else, the owner of this house wants to sell,and I don't want to buy). I have a lot of junk. I knew this, but I am trying to shed my packrat skin and honestly evaluate what I need and what I don't. I imagine this is what quitting smoking is like...my brain says "YES" but the rest of me is screaming...NOOOOOO!

3) Read. I am reading anything I can get my hands on, even things I normally wouldn't. I just finished "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire...that was loaned to me a while back by a friend, and I had never gotten around to reading it because it's not my usually digs. However, it was pretty damn good. Expanding one's mind, FTW.

4) Cook. I am trying all kinds of new recipes out, some successful, some not so much. I have gained 10 pounds, so maybe I should switch to the low-cal cookbook now.

5) Stay away from computers. I am trying (and failing, since I'm typing this) to stay away from the PC world, if for no other reason to gain a little perspective. It's not really working.

6) Consider the inane, the inconceivable, and propose that it could work. My family has lived in Virginia since the late 1700s. They've apparently never wanted to roam far. My thoughts on this were likewise, until I challenged myself. What would it be like to move out of state? Would I like it? After all, I have no siblings, my mother and I are not very close anymore, and I have my own family. My ancestors came over to Virginia from England on the premise that change was good...and they've been here ever since. Perhaps it's time to give my children the opportunity to have a foot on both sides of the country.

7) Learn more. Like #3 states, I've been expanding my reading list. Nosing around Barnes and Noble, I found a translation of Herodotus' Histories, so I picked it up. I also bought a copy of "The Art of War plus The Art of Management", a great read that takes Sun Tzu's writings and on the opposite page, translates it into really good management theory. I bought "100 Habits of Successful People" and am digesting that a little bit at a time. My thought is that if I am going to stay in management, I need to make sure that I am the best I can be, and that means constantly learning and adapting my methods. Flexibility = employability, in my opinion.

8) Put the Family First. I have been spending quite a bit of time with my daughters, more than I have since Catherine turned three. Lily is now six months old, and I haven't been able to be with her full time since she was about 6 weeks. (I have a son, too, but he's at that age where he's too good for old Mom's company.) What I have learned from this past month is that my eldest daughter is an amazing, complex creature full of abstract thoughts that border on brilliance at times--something I'd never thought possible in an almost-four-year-old. My youngest is a very happy child, most content when she has a familiar face to gaze at, and as full of love as the the eldest is full of volatility. I now think of them as polar opposites. Little Lily will balance Catherine's tornado of impulsiveness, I think--thank god.

9) Figure out...Who Am I? This whole thing has made me turn inward and try to puzzle out who I want to be. Do I just want money, or is it a deeper thing for me? Would I be happy being a stay at home mom, or working a desk jockey helpdesk job after being so very satisfied with my career? Am I resentful, or resigned? Am I selfish for pulling my family out of a familiar place to go haring off after my own dreams? Should I settle, as usual, or should I JUST DO IT?

My conclusion? If you don't take risks, you'll never find success or happiness. Period. I took a risk when I decided to leap into this field, and it paid off. I took a risk when I left my first marriage and went for true love. There's no guarantee that this will be a good thing, but I will never know until I give it a shot. If nothing else, I've learned that a family's level of contentment is based on every member being satisfied. If I am unhappy, everyone is. LOL.

There was going to be a #10, but my ADD has kicked in, and I am moving on to another list. I love lists. I think I need to write a book of lists...! Maybe that's #10.