by John Roberts

Created on: August 07, 2009

One of the perils of becoming unemployed is experiencing a decline of discipline in how you mentally and physically approach those empty days. Unemployment is an epidemic reaching catastrophic proportions as the jobless army continues growing at an alarming rate. The unemployment condition is worse than just stressing out over money by being a crippling mental and physical disease. It is now not a matter of being out of work for a little while but a way of life going into years with no end in sight for many Americans. California alone had 74,000 unemployed hitting the 15 month out of work mark.

What happens is a lifestyle softening as job discipline fades. You know what job discipline is. It is a life dictated by the clock. You are awakened every day by the alarm clock to prepare for work. You must leave home by a certain time to make the work commute. You have to clock in on the job at a specific time. You eat lunch at the same time every day. You go home at a designated time. You have to get to bed by an approximate time in order to be rested for work. It is a horrible sounding schedule but a necessary reality.

So now you are unemployed and whether you admit it or not, there exists a euphoric sense of freedom of having total control of your life and time that is addictive. You can stay up late, sleep in late and goof off all day going to the beach and playing golf. Some people have embraced this new carefree lifestyle as "funemployment." For most, this morphs into anxiety and depression. No matter what this softening or slacker approach eventually becomes normal routine and the longer the unemployment period, the more difficult to return to job discipline. To be jolted back into a clock controlled routine is a shock to the system after being so lazy. And most of us are naturally lazy wanting freedom from selling our souls to the man for forty hours or more a week. Just admit it.

The so-called experts are aware of this condition and advise maintaining a work schedule. That means going to bed and rising at the same times, dressing for a non-existent job and substituting job searching for working. It does not work. There is no substitute for the rigors of commuter traffic, pressures of getting your work done and stress of the boss looking over your shoulder. Even the most aggressive job hunting does not require forty hours per week. In fact, the longer you are unemployed in a shrinking job market and exhausting leads, the more time you have to do nothing.

The slacker mentality is going to creep in no matter what. Even the most self-disciplined person will experience those moments of "Screw it! I don't have to report to a job. I can stay up if I choose and sleep until noon. I can go skiing during the week." It is either embracing the "funemployment" attitude or slowly go insane worrying while watching TV all day and consuming junk food.

Life presents intriquing situations: The hell of being a wage slave or distressing over not earning your keep. The soft slacker lifestyle is awfully seductive as long as you can get away with it. So much so you may never want to leave it.

So what is the solution?

Temping is an excellent means of keeping you on your toes, however, temp work is now quite hard to come by. The surefire cure all is the joy and happiness of getting back to work and receving a paycheck providing an energy jolt to your mental and physical energies as you ease back into the job discipline routine. -

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