Reflections of an Unemployed Runner -- Part I

Exactly two months ago, I became like many others you hear about on the nightly news. I lost my job. Due to the economic downturn, and more specifically, due to the state of the automotive business, my position came to an end. I've been Blogger MIA for the last eight weeks and part of it was because I honesty needed to disengage a little bit (although I'm addicted to Facebook and Twitter). After being connected 24/7 for a long time, it was time to take a little break.

Today on my run, I realized I missed it and thought today would be a great day to come back. I've missed my blogger friends and look forward to catching up on your adventures!

The greatest advantage I had about being laid off, is that I knew it was coming. There was a definite end date that knew about for three months. This allowed me the opportunity to go through the cycle of emotions:

1) Denial -- I kept thinking, "This won't really happen. Something will turn around and they'll need me."

2) Scared to death -- I couldn't sleep for a few weeks because I kept worrying about what I was going to do.

3) Pissed off -- They need me, damn it!

4) Accepting -- This is happening. It's not personal, it's business. I'm going to be okay and I'm better off than a lot of people. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about where I am going to live and how I'm going to eat. It takes time to go through these phases, and I was able to work through them and prepare for my next adventure.

Since I was able to do all of that before April 15, I was in pretty good shape and had a plan. I was going to take the first two weeks and do whatever I wanted. Even if that was absolutely nothing. I got up late, stayed in my pj's until mid-afternoon, went running and enjoyed happy hours and dinners out with friends I hadn't seen in a while. My mom and I started wedding dress shopping and it was perfect timing. Not too many people are in bridal salons on random Tuesday mornings. Life was great!

The next couple of weeks I tried to get into a schedule. This mostly consisted of running in the morning, running errands in the afternoon and having dinner ready when JP got home in the evening. Sound boring and a little sad? Yeah, it was. Since I was home alone all day, I would stretch out the errands so I had something to do each day so I would at least get dressed and be out among real people.

When I graduated from college, I had a job already lined up so I started almost immediately. I went right from job one to my next job, where I stayed for nearly six years. So, I wasn't used to some real time off. Although I enjoyed myself, this new "adventure" of mine was a little tough. Running really helped me through it. It allowed me to put my energy into something positive, and just allowed me time to just think about things (or not think about things, depending on my mood).

It's kinda like a great shirt I once saw, "Running is cheaper than therapy." :)