It’s 3am and you’re fully awake. Nagging within you is that sense of bleakness and that feeling of sweeping uncertainty totally enveloping your whole being. Causing the anxiety is the saturating thought that you’re among the millions of jobless people all over the world. Then you ask yourself, “Whatever happened to my dreams”? “What has my college degree done for me?” “Am I really so brainless and without value that I couldn’t get a job?”
All these questions are harassing you at the deepest recesses of your consciousness. Actually, it is not just the feeling of being worthless that’s badgering you, it is also the distressing thought of what to provide for your family, how to send your children (or your brothers and sisters) to school, where to get the next month’s rent (or house amortization money). What if someone in the family gets sick? Or if you get sick? With all these baffling problems pestering your mind, it is very easy to just choose to “go down the drain” or think of suicide. Not so fast, as there are three things you need to remember before you do anything stupid —
REMINDER #1 — You’re Not Alone
Were you retrenched? Laid off? Or did you leave your job? Finding yourself without steady work is a frightening situation. It’s terrifying because all of a sudden, you jumped from being financially secure to not having any income at all. This loss of stability can lead you to descend fast into a chasm of depression and hopelessness. Or if you’re a college graduate who could not seem to land a job, the constant job searches/applications can ruin your morale and can lead you to undervalue yourself. How many times have you seen Engineering or Nursing graduates settling for a job that is way out of their academic background and training, all because they couldn’t land a job that is fitted to what they have been trained for? These people are forced to “underrate” themselves just so they can have an 8-5 job and a fixed income. But, don’t fret too much! You’re not alone!
In the latest International Labor Organization Report, there were approximately 198 million working-age people who didn’t have jobs in 2015. At that time, ILO predicted the number to increase to 199.4 million by 2016 and projected its continued rise to the 200 million mark by the end of the year.
The ILO disclosure attributed the gloomy unemployment scenario to a host of factors that include the upsurge of global population, deteriorating commodities prices, and slow-moving economic growth of emerging economies.
In the Philippines, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed that there are around 9.1 million Filipinos unemployed and the number is rising.
This is not to say that it is alright not have any source of income because there are so many of you out there. That is not the point. This is just to stress the fact that if you’re jobless, it is because of so many reasons and definitely not because you’re stupid or worthless!
REMINDER #2 — You’re Alive and Healthy
OK, you don’t have a job. It’s pathetic alright. But didn’t it occur to you that there are millions of people out there who might have a job but also have cancer? Or they are receiving paychecks regularly but they also constantly go to the hospital for regular blood transfusions? Or see their doctor many times in a month because they have a physical problem that needs constant monitoring? Or have you thought of that person who can no longer enjoy his pension because he is already 6-feet below the ground? Again, this is not saying that you have to thank God for not having a job and cancer. This is just to highlight the truth that despite not having a steady source of income, God is good to you because you are still breathing and is not beleaguered with some outrageous ailment. Thus, if you’re jobless but very much alive and well, it is not the end of the road for you because it means you can do something about your situation.
REMINDER #3 — It’s Not the End of the World
Despite the many calamities (whether natural or man-made) that have transpired in your lifetime, the world has not ended. Whether the disaster was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, a raging typhoon with accompanying tsunami or a life-changing heartbreak brought about by the separation of your significant other — life goes on. The world has not stopped turning, the birds are still chirping, the ocean breeze still touches your face. Therefore, if you’re still standing (because the world still exists), then do something about your life! If planet Earth has not given up (despite being ravaged by all types of cataclysms), then why should you?
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Author’s email: legis616821@gmail.com
