Comments on: The Five Best Things About Unemployment (or Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice)

By: Peter Farber

Peter Farber — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:44:23 +0000

To John I would ask, what’s the alternative? You either bounce off the wall, or you sustain yourself by the belief that there is some meaning to all this. My brother-in-law, newly an avowed atheist, would that that kind of talk is pap, a crutch. Call it whatever you want, even drug of choice. If the belief in god gets you out of bed each day doing something productive and meaningful, in lieu of generating an income, which as someone not generating an income, seems like a good thing, then who cares.

By: SARJ Rojo

SARJ Rojo — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:07:01 +0000

With God , who is always in control of everything, there seems always a way for us to afloat no matter how devastating our experience of unemployment.

Withering fig is not in any way the reason for us to be overcome by difficult time. Truly, “tough times never last but tough people do.” Of course, with God!

By: Stephen Hebert

Stephen Hebert — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:51:26 +0000

@John — That’s an excellent point. Everyone’s situation is going to be different. I am fortunate enough that I had (a) a working spouse who, and (b) had saved a decent amount of money.

Update:
When I was laid off in December, my wife and I knew we could stay afloat for 8-9 months without me working. I took a few odd jobs so that we didn’t have to go into crisis financial mode…this allowed us to go out to eat (one of our favorite activities) and remain social with our friends (who love “going out”).

Last week I received a call from a high school that I had interviewed with in April/May. I really wanted to work for this particular school, but they chose another candidate because of her experience. They called last week to offer me a job, and I took it. I began work just three weeks shy of the 9-month mark of my unemployment. I am grateful, to say the least.

By: John Dornheim

John Dornheim — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:56:34 +0000

I think that much of what you say is all well and good but you have a spouse. There are folks like me who do not have such a support system and the pressures of unemployment (or under-employment) are so great that it becomes difficult, at best, to do the things which you suggest.

By: Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice « Godspace

Unemployment as a Spiritual Practice « Godspace — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:22:12 +0000

[...] However, unemployment has its benefits. If you can put yourself in the right frame of mind, joblessness can be a blessing. Allow me to enumerate and elaborate. Read the entire article [...]