Redundancy. Don't know what to do.

[HangryPants]

I was made redundant from the end of this month. It's a blessing as I was so fed up of my job. Due to a few days of annual leave, today was actually my first day off.

I am so directionless. I don't know what to do. Having worked hard all of my life I now have zero motivation to get a job or take on a new voluntary activity or start a new hobby or do anything really.

(No kids, no pets, no rent or mortgage. 1 DP).

I’ve been made redundant 4 times, first when I was 19 and the last time at 58. We have always wanted a dog, but said not until I can be at home. It was 4 months before we got a dog, so I spent a lot of time in the garden, going on holiday. I would have been bored just pottering around, cooking and cleaning and now we have a dog we go on long walks.

I also had 6 months notice of my redundancy, but it doesn’t prepare you for actually being out of work, it takes a while to sink in. If you don’t know what type of work you want, would you consider a temp job, that way you could try something different.

I have also been made redundant and will finish this week.
It feels odd that one day soon I'll wake up and not have to go to work.
I'm a bit mixed about it but over all, am glad because I was really fed up and the package is very good.

I don't have a plan yet except to take some time out.

When I took VR o felt a bit like you.

I signed up for a training course and did two thing - trained every single work day, and cycled on my bike to the library to do that training.

This gave me a sense of purpose.

I also got a puppy.

A dog would be wonderful, but I can't afford a puppy of the breed I would want and I also feel that now is not the time to be committing to a dog given that I don't know where I might end up.

Another day that started off fairly purposeful and productive and then ran in to boredom again by mid afternoon.

Could you volunteer, do online courses or apply to help with Census so you have something planned in to fill your days?

Literally all of the volunteering activities I do have shut down due to covid. There is one I may be able to pick up in a couple of weeks, once it's made safe.

I am a bit fed up of doing online courses.

I was looking at the census jobs, yes.

@HangryPants

A dog would be wonderful, but I can't afford a puppy of the breed I would want and I also feel that now is not the time to be committing to a dog given that I don't know where I might end up.

Another day that started off fairly purposeful and productive and then ran in to boredom again by mid afternoon.

Could you contact your local church to see if they have any elderly parishioners with a dog. They may be shielding etc and not able to go big walks. Your free time could be a massive boon.

That's a good idea, dog walk for those self isolating and vulnerable too. Most areas have a Coronavirus volunteer group, doing shopping, picking up prescriptions, helping get people to vaccinations/doctor/appointments etc.

When I was made redundant, suddenly as is typical in my sector (i.e. told at lunchtime, then escorted off the premises immediately), I got very drunk. Nursed my hangover the following day and felt sorry for myself, then threw myself into training to swim the Channel. Something I'd wanted to do since I was a child but had never had the time to put the hours in for.

I realise that might be a bit extreme, and also impossible in the current climate, but you do have the opportunity to achieve a lifelong goal that you might otherwise have never been able to do.

I really don't fancy volunteering with dog walking. I've done it before and it was very tying. People, reasonably, like their dogs in a routine. Plus, one of the few silver linings of no longer having a dog is not having to drag myself round a muddy park in this cold, wet weather.

then threw myself into training to swim the Channel. Something I'd wanted to do since I was a child but had never had the time to put the hours in for.

Yes! This is the kind of thing that I'm just missing, and feel so lost without. There is just nothing I want to do.

It's very difficult with the restrictions though, when there is so little to do outside except go for yet another walk. I think a lot of people are finding lockdown so hard this time. We're just grinding through homeschool then spending hours in front of the TV.

A friend of mine does an annual page in her bullet journal - 20 things to do in 2020, 21 things to do in 2021. Not "jobs" but stuff like climbing Ben Nevis, getting a 5k under a certain time, visiting Barcelona, going to the theatre with a friend, doing a wine tasting. I know lockdown might make it all impossible this year but all the same it might be a nice way to make some goals for your leisure time constructively when things open up a bit. If they turn out not to be possible due to covid, so be it.