Waking up early reflects a desire for productivity despite unemployment. Mornings begin with a routine of matcha, oatmeal, exercise, and silence. The writer recalls launching a column while navigating office challenges and microaggressions as a mid-level marketing manager. After being laid off, initial excitement fades as financial and emotional struggles become apparent. The earlier envisioned freedom devolves into frustration with diminished savings and clarity of purpose, contrasting starkly with the earlier blissful idea of 'funemployment.'
I still wake up at 7:15 a.m. Not because I have a meeting. Or a commute. Or a list of deliverables that's longer than a CVS receipt. I'm up early because something about lying in bed while my corporate counterparts clock in makes me feel like I'm behind, even if there's no race I'm actively running.
For the first time in a long time, I'm unemployed. There, I said it.
I used to pray for times like this, imagining being unshackled from the chains of recurring standups, performance reviews, and a 27-tab document named "Final_FINAL_V3_(1)." I'd see myself rewatching The Boondocks episodes on a random Tuesday afternoon, hitting up local museums during off-peak hours, day drinking with a pinky pointed toward the clouds.
But since those first couple of weeks post-layoff, the "fun" in "funemployment" has hopped on a paper plane and gone MIA. I'm over the midday mimosas and matinees, especially now that I'm fresh out of severance dollars to spend and Severance episodes to binge.
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