I had a little mentyB a few months ago and have taken an extended break to sort myself out. Lucky I've always been good at saving money, so I've been existing comfortably! But it's stressful not earning so I've been applying for work again.
Something that severely irks me are the questions always posed in my direction whenever I say I'm currently unemployed. “What do you DO all day? Don't you get BORED? I couldn't STAND being home all day, you must be going stir crazy! Are you stir crazy yet?” etc etc. Not to mention the looks of disgust that go along with being unemployed.
Like… no, I am not bored, or stir crazy. I do LOTS of things I never had time for when I was working! I write, read, draw, play games, spend time with cat and friends who work ok weekends, my house is actually clean for once, I'm eating better, I'm EXERCISING AGAIN… How incredibly sad I think it is, that so many people are so tied up in the idea of work, that they would find themselves bored or with “nothing to do” without it. I love not working. If I never had to do it again, I wouldn't. I am not bored, I am REBORN. I'm remembering who I am. And I'm ready to fight for working conditions I deserve, which I wasn't before.
Something quite harrowing is the look of relief people have when I say I'm going back to work. Why does my job tie value to me? I write novels, but that's not good enough because they aren't monetised?
Sorry, I'm ranting, but it's just so frustrating. There's so much more to life than an income. I haven't missed a single sunset since I quit work. To me, that means a lot. Thanks for listening to the ramble!