(Willful) Unemployment!

[Futhark]

Just wanted people's opinion on this. I worked my butt off to live comfortably before I start work in around a month and a half continuing my chosen path (I am a Paramedic in the USA and live in Switzerland now, so I am becoming a Paramedic in Switzerland)

I'm going to blog alot, read a lot to perfect my French, exercise, see my family who I have been neglecting because of work, and much more.

I'm looking to hear from someone who has had a meaningful and productive unemployment, one where you've sat down and centered yourself, ready to attack the world at the moment of your choice. Does being out of the normal workforce change your attitudes? Do you become more or less organized? Happier? More energy?

It is my opinion that to be a productive individual, one must be PART of society, firmly connected. Be in a position to help others. What do you think is the best way to stay real, relevant to the physical world around you (I live in a small mountain town).

[NewSimon]

Well, I've just had a year of chosen unemployment and yes it is important to continue to be productive and engage with people. I think being 'part of society' isn't a good choice of words. I've never felt a part of society even when working, but I've never felt apart from it.

To me, being unemployed is like going to live somewhere else. You always take yourself with you. I didn't change at all because of the circumstances. Though I no longer really feel much fear of unemployment or see working as something inflexible. I noticed that people around me seemed to feel that working was the only thing that gave structure or meaning to life and they seemed to associate my very existence with the concept of being out of work. As if your career was the only thing that defined you.

Structure to your life is important though, so I would simply recommend having a number of projects and goals to pursue.

[Futhark]

That is good to hear, I have many projects lined up:

-5 French vocab words a day / 3 anatomical or health words a day
-Reading and generally surrounding myself with the language
-100 pushups a day and 45 minutes cardio at least
-getting back to reading some inspirational fantasy, personal development, business, marketing literature
-creating good material on my blog and expanding my social networks
-give more than I recieve everyday

Some of them I broke down into more useful statements:
-How can I learn to most easily express myself in written and spoken forms of French everyday and be relevant to my job?
-What can I do to best get in shape?

This is on top of being married to a wonderful woman, I know she can help me support this.

But sometimes, I look at a list like this and SWEAT!

[ragtag]

This sounds like a good plan if you can afford it.

I've been unemployed twice in my life, but only for a couple of months each time between jobs. Both times I was busy with my own projects, so I wasn't exactly just lying around watching TV (don't own one). I found it to be very rewarding and enjoyable. I would get lots of stuff done on my projects, eat better and exercise more frequently, I even had a more regular sleeping pattern than when I'm employed.

The only downside to it was that the first time around I was completely broke, which is never fun. But other than that it was great, and gives you time to focus and think.

[Marko500]

Originally Posted by Futhark

Does being out of the normal workforce change your attitudes? Do you become more or less organized? Happier? More energy?

It is my opinion that to be a productive individual, one must be PART of society, firmly connected. Be in a position to help others. What do you think is the best way to stay real, relevant to the physical world around you (I live in a small mountain town).

I do not agree entirely with you.

On the one hand, it is true that productivity depends on the society. Almost all jobs we do would not exist if we would not have other people.

But on the other hand, productivity is the internal attribute. There are people who do a job for years and still are not productive.