Unemployment Land

I will be joining the grind Monday and realized this will be my last weekday being unemployed.  Maybe the idea of having no responsibility sounds amazing to you, in fact I'm sure there were many times when I was in school and the idea of doing nothing sounded amazing.  However, being at home with no time card got old pretty fast for me.  I did work as a nanny and did some house/pet sitting, but I longed for regular hours and a purpose.  If you happen to be in this position, I want to give you some advice I wish I could have told myself, after all hindsight is 20/20.

1.  Just Say No to Daytime Television
Watching TV during the day (for me at least) needs to be reserved strictly for when I am sick.  It literally sucks the life out of me and makes me a zombie.  Zombies are neither productive nor enjoyable to be around.  My daytime TV issue stemmed from Retro MTV.  Oh yes.  I wasn't watching the news or even the Food Network.  MTV gifted me with The Hills mini-marathons every morning in July.  If you don't know what The Hills is don't bother looking it up.  It was shot in 2005 (?) and revolved around a very passive aggressive girl named Lauren, her friends, her frenemies, and the occasional bromance.  I wondered why these twenty somethings I was watching were able to make upwards of $20k an episode for having "drama" when I had a college degree and couldn't even make minimum wage.  What about my drama? The thought didn't occur to me to get off the couch and do more about my "dramatic" employment void.  I decided to watch their drama instead.  Sometimes I would tell myself, "I'm only watching one episode" or "after this episode I will go on a run."  HA.  Too late.  I was addicted.  Before I knew it, 4  hours would pass and I would realize Lauren wasn't even on the show anymore, Heidi's boobs were a size GG and her face was unrecognizable.  People, just say no to daytime television.  Once the marathons were over, the only thing I felt like accomplishing was crawling back into bed.  Gross.

2.  Wake Up at a Decent Hour
I'm the kind of person who likes to have an alarm to wake up to.  Well, I don't enjoy it, but it's best for my productivity.  Setting an alarm at night reminds me not to stay up late watching The Real Housewives of Venus (don't get sucked into Bravo daytime marathons either!) and gets me out of bed.  I was waking up around 10 or 11 earlier in the summer, which is not normal for me.  I used to work 7:30 AM shifts 4 days a week last year; I have always been an early-ish riser.  When I wake up late, it throws everything off and I don't get tired at night.  My productivity also becomes limited to  throwing on a bathing suit and going to the beach to tan until 4 PM.  Luckily for me, I went to New York in August and came back to California with my body still on east coast time.  It was great!  It felt like I was waking up at 11:00 in NY when it was actually 8:00 in sunny Huntington. 

3. Exercise
I literally had zero excuse to not exercise.  I couldn't say I was busy, which is usually reason number one.  I'm the kind of person who will exercise religiously and daily once I get on a nice exercise kick.  This also means if I stop exercising, it becomes hard for me to go back to it.  I was in a huge exercise rut since I spent my last month in SLO squeezing every precious social second I could with my friends going downtown and eating Firestone.  Joining a gym forced me to exercise, I was paying monthly dues after all.  Exercise happens to be extremely therapeutic for me.  It also makes my butt, gutt, tri's, and bi's much nicer to look at.  Until you look at the OC Housewife next to me and I transform into the Michelin man in comparison. 

4.  Remember this is Temporary! (if you're doing something about it)
I wish I could have told myself to calm down.  I was a major stress case thinking about not having a job, dietetic internships, where the hell my college degree was, money, etc.  It really is all about timing.  In my case, when it rains it pours because in the last week I have had 2 interviews, 2 offers, received my degree, and become eligible for the DTR exam.  Not to mention I got called for an interview at St. Jude's today, which I had to decline.  You just have to take care of what you can control: networking, studying, hobbies, etc.

5.  Take Advantage of this Time
Instead of watching Speidi contemplate what thread count sheets they should buy or waiting for LC's head to explode from holding in so much aggression, do something you normally don't have time to do.  I started this blog, built a corn hole game with my Grandpa, made enough baked goods to feed Micronesia, took an online Spanish for Medical Professionals class, rode my bike to the beach daily, read for leisure (yes, I finished the Fifty Shades trilogy with no shame) and got to go on an amazing trip to New York.  I also got to visit San Luis Obispo a couple of times, which happens to be my personal Mecca of denial, tri tip, wine tasting and where most of my favorite people in this whole world live.  

Think of this time as a vacation without removing yourself from the present and your future goals.  Also remember you're not the only one going through this.  If you don't believe me, search #postgradproblems on Twitter or Instagram.  People may have different PGP's, but they exist for everyone.

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