Finished with Life?

Another birthday has passed as the sun sets.  In years past I had a ritual on each birthday:  reviewing choices made, successes and failures, setting new goals.  I consumed self-help books by the stack…how to improve your looks, personality, memory and spiritualityy.  This year I paused to reflect on the past twelve months, where I have been as well as what my goals were when I started the last year.  Everyone (even those that won’t admit to it) makes a list of things they want out of life.  A few of those books (life coaching) even go so far as to include pages where you can notate your goals and a plan to achieve them.  I am much in favor of positive thinking-I refer to that as daily rationalizations to get us through.  But, I guess I have now reached the age where cynicism has overgrown my normal positive outlook on life.  I decided to make a new list this year-what I have learned, and what I really want. I have divided this into two sections; professional and personal.

Professional:

1)  Unemployment stinks-no argument from anyone on this one.  I have lost two jobs this year.  The first on January 4th (after working the New Year’s holiday weekend).  Filing for benefits with the State was demeaning and the first time I truly became angry at the government worker attitude towards me, and many other people trying to navigate this complicated system.  Having never applied for benefits before this point, I quickly realized this system is designed to be slow and cumbersome on the chance that you will find employment before you actually receive any benefits.  The benefits are a percentage of your prior wages, not designed to be adequate for existing let alone being able to pay a mortgage/rent, utilities, gasoline.  Financially responsible people save money (at least six months of living expenses).  If you do have savings, this counts against you. And, now that you are unemployed there are new expenses involved in travel, office supplies, etc., trying to obtain employment.  In fact having any money counts against you in being eligible for benefits.  Once you have went through your savings and money, then you wait to become eligible.  Most companies now employ services to assist in delaying of payment of benefits, so this could mean waiting up to seven weeks before a determination of your eligibility is made.