Chapter One: Celebrating Unemployment: How to Avoid Becoming a Crunchy Couch Burrito by Deborah E. Levin

 

Title: Celebrating Unemployment: How to Avoid Becoming a Crunchy Couch Burrito by Deborah E. Levin

Author: Deborah E. Levin

Publisher: Allenjo Publishing, LLC

Publication Date: May 6, 2024

Pages: 108

Genre: Nonfiction

Unemployment does not have to suck.

“Celebrating Unemployment: How to Avoid Becoming a Crunchy Couch Burrito” is a book helping people stay positive after losing their job. It shares steps to move forward and find their dream job. It acknowledges being unemployed is depressing and shows ways to feel better and keep going.

What’s included in this book:

• Survival budgeting tactics
• Short-term income strategies
• Resume and cover letter techniques
• Job search opportunities
• Interview approaches
• Changing careers
• Finding work that makes you happy

Since the author also experienced unemployment, she understands reading about job-related topics can cause worry and anxiety. She writes with empathy, giving useful advice on dealing with unemployment and offering practical ways to overcome personal challenges. By dealing with these issues directly, you gain the knowledge and build the positive attitude needed to change problems into opportunities for a better future.

This book also shares insights about taking care of yourself and staying strong mentally. Overall, it’s a guide to help people turn job loss into a chance for something better.

Celebrating Unemployment: How to Avoid Becoming a Crunchy Couch Burrito is available at Amazon.

 First Chapter:

The Blanket Burrito

“Your job has been eliminated.” Those words echoed through my brain, rattling me out of my comfort zone. I worked so hard, was innovative, and maintained a positive attitude. My work made a difference. How can a company I was loyal to for a decade scrape me off like gum on the bottom of someone’s shoe? What do I do now?

Before I allowed myself time to process my termination fully, I reached out to my loved ones to share the bad news. I should have waited because I threw myself into having to navigate and console their emotions before I could reconcile mine. However, the reassurance I provided them helped reassure me. Things might suck for a while, but overall, I was going to be OK.

I Can’t Believe It Happened to Me

I was a good employee. My turnaround time at work was fantastic, and I always worked ahead of others, anticipating the next opportunities to make the company great. The issue is I was personally invested in my work because my livelihood depended on it. For a company, it’s nothing personal. Companies have bottom lines and profitability to navigate, but let’s face it: labor is expensive. If a company can do more with less, they will. It was nothing personal to them but extremely personal to me.

I may have become complacent and overly comfortable in my position. Although my position required many technical skills, it was easy for me. If I had looked for other jobs in the company instead of settling into my role for many years, I would still be employed.

Did I offend someone? Did I burn a bridge with somebody up the company leadership chain and not realize it? Did they secretly hate me but politely tolerate me until they could kick me out? My brain was filled with negative and paranoid thoughts. Perhaps they were doing the happy dance because they didn’t have to deal with me anymore. The numbness was wearing off and turning into hurt and pain. It didn’t help that I now had uninterrupted time to overthink my situation.

The Blanket Burrito

I couldn’t sleep or stay awake. Like a little human burrito, I wrapped myself in a blanket and stayed there – thinking and not thinking. I got up only to use the bathroom and collect my fast-food delivery order from the front porch (because I still had money to burn, right?). I turned the television on for the noise and off for the silence. My world stopped.

Then, the what-ifs started pouring in. What if I could not find a job? What if I couldn’t pay my bills? What if people asked me what my plans were before I even had plans? Fortunately, and unfortunately, I was an empty nester. Fortunately, I did not have to deal with a barrage of overthinking from a romantic partner or a young adult child. Unfortunately, nobody was there to tell me to shower or bring me food.

I was bored with television and turned my sights toward mind-numbing scrolling through social media. I bombarded my friends with forwarded videos of cats, car accidents caught on tape, and countless clips of people doing and saying stupid things. My phone battery fell below 15%, and I finally told myself, “That’s enough.”

It was time to start thinking realistically about EVERYTHING: bills, budget, career, networking, and even the value of relationships with people in my life circle. The thoughts poured overwhelmingly, getting heavier and heavier. I finally understood having the weight of the world on my shoulders. The phone charge had reached 20%. It was time for more cat videos.

Fortunately for me, the blanket burrito phase only lasted a day. However, many people burrito for weeks or months as they try to reconcile the things leading up to their unemployment against their current and future needs. Losing a job can throw you into grief mode. The five phases of grief are denial (I can’t believe this happened to me), anger (how dare they do this to me!), bargaining (making deals with yourself or God), depression (feeling sad or lost), and finally acceptance (OK, this did happen to me). Some people navigate grief quickly, while others cannot recover from grief at all.

Shock and Grace

Losing a job is shocking and devastating when you don’t know how to survive financially in the short and long term. The emotional rollercoaster of anger, worry, hurt, and anxiety is exhausting. If it helps, grab some paper or open a blank page on the computer and write about how you feel. Just let the words flow. Get them out into the open. (NOTE: Avoid writing a manifesto about how you want to destroy the company, even if you are furious with them.) You can share your feelings with someone else or keep them in a private file. I am not a psychologist; however, my personal experience is getting these feelings out instead of internalizing them is helpful. Of course, if a counselor would help, I would consider setting up an appointment.

It is okay to burrito to allow recovery and processing time. Give yourself this grace period. However, it is not okay to become a crunchy burrito. You cannot allow yourself to stay burritoed for an extended time because that crust forming around you will immobilize your ability to move forward. People will not want to hire the crunchy burrito.

Congratulations on Your Promotion

The moment you were terminated from your job is the moment you were promoted to being your own boss. You are no longer required to answer your previous supervisor. No longer does that company own part of your time. No longer can they dictate your schedule or hold you accountable for responding to that email, writing that report, or wasting time in mind-numbing meetings. You no longer have to tolerate those annoying coworkers with poor hygiene, stinky food, irritating voices, or butt-kissing demeanors (although it is okay to miss those work friends who made your time at the company awesome). You are free from all obligations to that company forever. Congratulations, Boss. It’s time to work on you.

Take a moment and think about what a boss does. A boss makes important decisions, determines where and how you will spend your time, ensures goals are met, evaluates performance, and measures financial progress. Sometimes, the boss has to have difficult conversations with their employees to get them back on track. A boss is also supposed to coach employees in areas of career development and highlight opportunities where they can grow and flourish.

Okay, Boss – are you ready to manage your employees? Bosses have a lot of accountability for success. Your new boss role can be intimidating if you’ve never been a boss. Bosses don’t have to be perfect, just effective. Your Boss-self journey will involve making mistakes, missing some deadlines, regrouping, and kicking your employee-self in the butt along the way.

By the way, bosses hate crunchy burritos.

About the Author:

Dr. Deborah Levin is a woman of many talents. She holds degrees in Design, Business Administration, and Leadership. She has multiple technical certifications, ranging from project management to artificial intelligence natural language processing. She has a strong background in project management and continuous improvement. She used her unique combination of creative and analytical skills throughout her decades of experience in corporate manufacturing and transactional environments, in addition to facilitating courses for adult learners and community service leadership. Dr. Levin is passionate about lifelong learning and is a strong supporter of formal education. She believes sharing her learning and experiences with others helps them gain perspective to become better versions of themselves.  She expresses this passion through a down-to-earth, personable writing style often seen in her written work.

Her book, Celebrating Unemployment: How to Avoid Becoming a Crunchy Couch Burrito is available at Amazon.

Visit her website at www.allenjopublishing.com.