Additional Unemployment Benefits Include Your Health

Some people have actually enjoyed the experience of being laid off because they get out from under the stress of the job and the pressure of completing projects and tasks on sometimes unreasonable time lines. When I was laid off, it was difficult for me as it was for others, to think that your services aren’t wanted anymore. You are being let go from a position that you worked hard to achieve. But within a week of becoming unemployed, the lack of stress is refreshing.

It may sound like I like being stress free but I don’t. I work better when under some stress and time lines, but too much of that can work on anyone’s mind and body and take its toll on your physical well being. Some people won’t admit to being under stress, while others don’t realize how uptight they are. So how do you know whether you are stressed or not?

Here are some ways to tell if you are under stress:

1. Tight jaws. Do you clench your jaw tight for periods of time?
2. Do you sigh a lot? Sighing, or taking a deep breath and letting it out may be a sign of stress as your body tries to relax.
3. Upset stomach. Sometimes it comes directly from stress; other times it’s from too much coffee, etc.
4. Do you find yourself irritable and more irritable when talking to co-workers or friends?
5. Does your neck feel like a board? Tensing up will cause your neck muscles to become rigid.
6. Have you become more forgetful or have trouble concentrating on projects and tasks?
7. Are you easily fatigued all the time and sometimes your mind wanders when you are sleeping?
8. Do you get headaches you didn’t used to get?

Now think what all these things combined will do to you, or have done to you in the past.

When you were laid off, did you feel better physically? Have you been able to function at a higher level now that you are unemployed? Maybe it was time to change jobs just to relieve the stress.

Sure there is stress added from the lack of work and the complex issues this brings on. But it could be an opportunity for you to move to the next level. This could be a good time to take up the exercising regiment you have always wanted to do, or change your diet and eat more healthy.

BusinessWeek reported that a study was done with Boeing workers, and found that those people who were laid off actually were better off than their former co-workers. People found ways to reinvent themselves, get new jobs, and find new meaning in life.

Over the 10 years of the study (1996 – 2006), it was found that the depression rate was twice as high for those left behind, as it was for the ones who were let go from Boeing. The article goes on to describe the lack of work satisfaction, as parts were being outsourced, and the employees were just putting the planes together. Once laid off and let go, people were able to reach out for new challenges and new meaning in life.

So if you are one of the 10% who are laid off in the USA, or for that matter anywhere, you may be looking the wrong way if you are still lamenting the job loss. This could be the time to reinvent yourself, take up a new hobby, and find new avenues to pursue. Maybe it’s actually your former co-workers who are worse off.

Photo courtesy of Flickr Contributor myyogaonline

If you enjoyed this, you may want to read these articles:

Be a survivor in today’s job market
Sometimes Goodbye is a Second Chance

Photo courtesy of Flickr – photographer Scarleth White

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