Surviving tough times: 100 ideas for being happy when you lose your job

During these tough economic times jobs are being slashed across the globe. The unemployment rate is increasing. Retrenchments and redundancies are common.

Losing your job can be sad, lonely and stressful. You might be missing friends at work or not know when you’ll get a stable income again.

But it’s not all bad news. Below are some ideas to help us be happy after a job loss.

My goal is to get this list to 100 ideas. Write your ideas in the comments section at the end of the list. If they can add extra happiness to people’s lives, they’ll be added to the list.

1. Join a job search and job networking club
2. Enroll in a course – learn a language, join an art course, cooking course…
3. Exercise more
4. Join a sports club – this is a good time to try a new sport
5. Join a non-sporting club – join a cards club (such as poker or bridge), public speaking club…
6. Start a hobby
7. Travel
8. Read books
9. Go to the library
10. Start your own small business
11. Become politically active
12. Save the environment – join environmental groups, help-out in a tree planting program, save animals from extinction…
13. Do volunteer work
14. Do-up your garden
15. Renovate your house
16. Learn an instrument
17. Visit art galleries
18. Visit museums
19. Go to the zoo – if you can, become a zoo member. How about becoming a volunteer at the zoo? Some volunteers, called docents, take groups of visitors around the zoo while discussing various animals.
20. Go to the park
21. See more of friends and family
22. Play computer games, board games, outdoor games…
23. Look after your body: eat well and keep fit
24. Train for a physical challenge like a fun run or marathon
25. Offer to work one or two days a week in exchange for on-the-job training. It keeps you busy, broadens your experience, and could lead to work.
26. Most of us spend our lives dreaming of not having to work then when we lose the dreaded job and don’t have to get up at 6am every weekday we get depressed. The grass is always greener people! Let’s just enjoy what we have no matter what it may be. Enjoy your time of unemployment while it lasts because one day you will get another job and will have to do the daily grind all over again…I have a new equation: unemployment = time + freedom to do what YOU want to do.
27. Adjust your spending habits. Without a regular income, make every dollar count.
28. Register with employment agencies, ring up contacts, activate old contacts, and prop up your Resume if you want to get another job.
29. Do not mope for too long. When one door closes another opens. Grieve about the job but not for too long. You have the rest of your life to live.
30. Friends – keep in touch with your friends. Make new friends. Do not stay isolated as that just perpetuates loneliness. Be positive and associate with friends who will make you happy without making you feel bad or pitying you for your job loss.
31. Specialize – find an angle in life and pursue it. Develop skills that are relevant to the market and in better synergy with what you love.
32. Passion – follow your heart. A job may have been restricting your growth in the area of life that you are best suited or gifted in. Use that opportunity to follow your dreams, whatever they may be.
33. Start a blog – you can start a blog such as this one to sell your skills, expertise and brand yourself. When potential employers google you, they will find good stuff.
34. Personal changes – assess yourself, think of ways you can improve as a person. Use that as a trigger to grow as a person.
35. Damien says: There have been a few articles in the Australian magazine Runners’ World about how jogging helps depression, so jog regularly. There might be a jogging club in your area.

* Post your ideas below to continue building this list