4 things I learned being “unemployed” for the last year
It has been one year since I last had a full-time position. It has also been the longest break I’ve had working since I started working in Advertising for the last 8 years. Taking this big break was something I did not plan for but I realize it was something I very much needed. Here are four major things I have learned in my time off.
Travel 🧳✈️ this seems to be a common thing that happens when you go from working 40+ hours a week to suddenly having all the free time you could want. If you have the money and the means to travel then I highly recommend traveling. Even just for a week or two can be such an inspiring experience. Better yet, TRAVEL SOLO. Worried about any language barriers? Don’t worry so much, I don’t know a single word of Greek or French and I managed just fine! Know how to be open with your heart and mind and crack a smile or joke and you’ll get along just fine!
Time ⏰ speaking of time, when you suddenly have all the free time you could want something weird happens where you don’t have that structure to your day filled with projects and meetings at work. I’ve spent a massive amount of my break from work asking myself this one question over and over until eventually I created my own structure: “What do I want to spend my time REALLY doing?” As to say, what do I actually want to do with my 24 hours? This takes a lot of self-reflection to answer but for ME, it came down to this. I love to wake up early. I love to be active (so I went to the gym and walked). I love to write (so I journaled). I love to talk (so I booked my day with conversations with all sorts of people). I love to dance, so I booked monthly dance workshops where I can teach. I love to photograph so I went out 3-4x a week taking photos and looking for photography work. I tried to do all these things every single day to give my life some kind of structure and it helped me bring some kind of meaning and purpose to my life. I started to really understand myself more and I realized that I just love the simple moments of the days, the conversations, and the things you can learn from them and taking things slow. If you ask people what they would do if they had all the free time, most wouldn’t have a clue of what to say. Stop filling up your days doing work you don’t enjoy, scrolling on social media, or playing video games, and get out there and figure it out!
Embrace the Random Things 💫 Prepare for Law School, full-time photographer, dance teacher, moving to Paris, experiencing an HR role, doing speaking gigs, becoming a wedding officiant. These are all the “random” things I did last year to explore the things that interest me. Doing these things and embracing them helps you craft your own story and helps you understand yourself and what really excites you about life. Doing all these things helped me realize I LOVE working with people. I love speaking and I love having conversations. I love making a difference through the things I have to say and the connections I make in my life.
Connections 🔗 this was something I stopped doing when I had my last full-time gig. I stopped making connections and I got comfortable. It’s true what they say, it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know. As clique as it is, there is a reason it’s so damn clique - because it’s true. I put myself out there in so many ways. When I thought I wanted to go to Law School last Spring, what did I do? I reached out to as many Lawyers, Law Students, and Law Professors as I possibly could and I concluded that I didn’t want to go to Law School. But I learned a lot in that process about myself and what I want to do. When I picked up my camera again, I got on the phone with photographers to learn how did managed to find work and work full time. When I started to do speaking engagements I reached out to other speakers and asked about their experiences and for advice. When I wanted to work in advertising again, I reached out to my network and connected with a bunch of NEW media professionals and had as many conversations as I could.
The biggest takeaway from my time off is realizing that your life is what you make of it. The real challenge of life isn’t making money, getting married, having children, or buying a house. It’s figuring out what is truly going to be the way you want to create YOUR life. How do you want to spend your time and how do the things you do in that time bring you meaning to your life?
