[Note To Self]

This was the post that I did not want to write… but I’m going to write it anyway.

I hit the one-year mark back in August. One year of being unemployed. I’ve been unemployed before, but this has been the worst. I knew what the job market was like before I was let go, and I had a plan – don’t be unemployed during this incredibly terrible job market.

I didn’t say that it was a GOOD plan!

At the time, I thought my layoff was out of the blue. In hindsight, the writing was on the wall, and I didn’t bother to read it. I guess it came fast, too? I mean, look at this screenshot of two of my posts on LinkedIn:

Those posts were a couple of months apart. Crazy, right? One day, you’re meeting the creator of Ruby at a beach party in Okinawa… next day, you’re packing up your work laptop to ship back to the company.

I have tried to keep busy. I have been trying to acquire new skills to keep myself up to date on things. I’ve been spending time with family and friends. I took up running. I continue to ice skate. I guess I hike? I did a strenuous (For me!) hike when I was back home in Hawaiʻi and while I was trying to climb down some rocks, I kept thinking about how this was not the kind of problem solving I wanted to be working on. By the way, I did make it through the hike with only ONE mishap!

I try not to think about the layoff, but it creeps in there… especially on the days where I’m feeling sorry for myself. I miss the work, I miss being useful. I miss my team… I worked with some great folks and I didn’t get a chance to say a proper goodbye.

I write a lot… or I try to? It helps keep me sane. I reach out when I need a sanity check, something I learned early on. I have never been afraid to ask for help, but this was a completely different situation.

Oh! I am currently doing contract work for a legal startup! Yeah, I buried the lede there. It’s a little earlier in the startup process than I’m used to working with, but it’s been pretty interesting so far.

I am hoping to get back to some kind of regular posting here, so stay tuned… or not? I will try, but I make no guarantees!