IRL: Unemployed Life Has Been Anything but Quiet!
Posted on December 9, 2025 by Aywren
It’s hard to imagine that I’m more strapped for time now that I’m unemployed than back when I was working a full-time job. I never thought that would be possible, but here we are. I’m wanting to write a blog post about my experiences and the life lessons I’ve taken away from this… and this might be the first one…
Be Prepared!
No one was prepared for the “your position is redundant” talk that we got a week ago. But I found myself extremely unprepared in ways that really mattered. Namely, networking.
I was quite comfortable and happy with my job of almost 14 years. So, I didn’t keep my resume up to date. In fact, I had to go searching for the file, and found it stashed in some random folder on my computer with no other backups (I’ve since fixed that).
I have not updated my resume since 2011, back when I first applied for my previous job. And so, I need to buckle down and add my latest (previous) job to the page, and figure out what all I have to say about the valuable skills I learned from it. This isn’t hard to do, but on top of everything else going on, it’s additional time I need to take to do it. Had I already had it ready, then I could have focused on other things.
Tip One: Keep your resume updated even if you are happy with the job you have.
Networking was my other area of weakness. I’d shut down my Facebook account and rarely networked with co-workers outside of work itself. I had no phone numbers. No way of contacting them. It was thankful luck that I managed to find a few of them and start branching out to find others.
I also didn’t have a LinkedIn account. I mean, I think I had one that was like 13 years old. But I’d not used it in so long that I didn’t even remember the login for it.
So, another time-consuming thing was to set up a LinkedIn and start building my network there, too. This has been a lot more fruitful than Facebook, I think, in terms of finding co-workers. Especially since I’m not the only one in this unemployment boat. Some of the folks that were let go alongside me are quite eye-opening as they were long-term professionals that I couldn’t imagine not working where they have all these years.
Again, this has been a scramble to set up and do. This time could have gone towards other things, but instead, I’ve had to focus on building something I should have already done.
Tip Two: Network with co-workers even if you’re a hermit (like me). Set up a LinkedIn and make sure you’re hooking up with folks.
Health Care and Insurance
Another factor to take into consideration has been what to do for health care and insurance. Especially after I just had a huge health scare that landed me in the hospital earlier this year.
Because my primary care was a service provided by my company, I will have to part ways with her come the end of December. I found out, however, that I still had this service until then, and set up an appointment to discuss options with her today.
She provided me with information on community health care options, which I will be looking into. She also set me up with additional med refills to help bridge the gap until I can get situated. I’ve had a lot of talks about what kind of health insurance to look into, and that seems to be a complicated matter as well.
I don’t have any solid answers on this front, but it’s a lot to think about.
Tip Three: Familiarize yourself with available community health care options just to be in the know. Also familiarize yourself with things like Good RX that can help compare prices of medications and provide some coupons.
Unemployment
I was waiting a week to sign up for unemployment, which I can do completely online. I have that as a to-do task today, so I’m not sure how it all works just yet. I do know that they expect you to provide proof that you’re doing two job searches through their app weekly to continue to qualify for unemployment payments.
I’ll talk more about that experience when I get there.
Creative Monetization
In the meantime, I’ve been setting up projects online to help fill the gaps a little here and there. I have a new Patreon where folks can support the long-term art and creative projects and sites that I’ve maintained – some for over 20 years now.
Psst – join my Patreon! Even at a free tier, it’s helpful to me!
I’ve also started a VGen account where I plan to offer art commissions. I’ve already done one for a friend, but seeing I plan to be going out of town next week for the holidays, I haven’t fully launched it just yet. But I plan to come the New Years!
It Don’t Stop Coming
Yesterday, I drove up to the work campus to turn in my work laptop. That hit pretty hard, and was the first time I shed a few tears about what I was losing. Overall, I’ve been doing my best to keep emotion out of this and just putting one foot in front of the other. I did shake myself out of it pretty quickly.
Even more fun to add to the pile! I was driving home from the appointment with my primary care today only to see a light pop up on my car’s dashboard! What a time to suddenly have car troubles, right?
I had my car serviced back in October, so I didn’t think it was anything super serious. I did some research online, and saw this had to do with sensors around my tire pressure. I called the service center, and they agreed that it was likely a sensor going out that needed to be replaced.
I told them that I was planning a trip out of state next week, and they set up a time to bring my car into the shop tomorrow afternoon. Not what I want to be spending money on right now, but it’s better that the light turned on when I was around town and near my service center than when I was out on the highway somewhere.
Yep. Lots to do still.
Onward!