Life Changes

Warm greetings from a new kid on the blog!

I'm a 50-something (still feeling 30-something) woman on a new path in life after an unexpected change in my circumstances. After 25 years+ of working extremely hard, having a successful career and developing loads of skills and abilities, I've joined the ever-growing army of the great unemployed following redundancy three months' ago. A scary place to be at any time in one's life I think you'd agree, but especially at my age in today's disasterous economic climate!

Having said that, in a strange kind of way I'm also finding this new chapter in my life quite exciting! It's true that I'm no longer in the driving seat. I don't have the controls. I've been relegated to the back seat, at the mercy of other drivers. I'm well and truly out of my comfort zone you might say! Although I'm not sure where this new path will take me, I just know it will lead somewhere good and unexpected - eventually!

Like many of you out there, I've always paid my taxes and I've never claimed anything off the State. But now I've been forced to draw Job Seekers Allowance. Signing-on at the Job Centre every fortnight is a whole new experience in itself let me tell you (but that's a tale for another blog).

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm finding the world of "job-hunting" extremely soul-destroying, frustrating and time-consuming. Take for example the daily trawl through the plethora of internet job-search engines, where you're continually registering your details, uploading your CV apparently for the 'ideal job', only for it all to disappear into the ether! Very rarely do I hear back from the so-called recruitment agencies that post these ficticious 'job opportunities', and who-knows where all my personal details have been sent!

Going into agencies in person and being interviewed by someone young enough to be your great grandchild, with little experience or worldly wisom to impart (no offence young people - I'm glad you've got jobs at least!) is quite frankly humiliating! Applying for jobs advertised in the press is also very demoralising, particularly when most employers cannot even afford you the basic courtesy of acknowledging your application or providing feedback if you don't get shortlisted for interview! Customer care these days it seems has become extinct!

However, having always been a positive, up-beat kind of person, and certainly not someone who is ready to be cast onto the proverbial scrap-heap, I am of the belief that there are always new possibilities in life, new doors to be opened and new things to learn. Despite some of the dark clouds that have loomed over the past few months, I've started to discover new things about myself and other people in my life. I'm trying out new things like volunteering work, which I thoroughly recommend if you want to do something constructive with your time, meet new people, have some fun, and stop your brain seizing up altogether (an uphill struggle at my age I can tell you!). I'm also trying to set up my own business (something I've thought about for many years but never had the courage to do anything about).

Anyway, enough rambling for my first-ever blog I think! I'd love to hear from anyone who is going through similar changes in their life and to share experiences - what hurdles are you facing? How is it changing you as a person? What positive steps you are taking to move forward? I think we can all learn from each other and it would be comforting to know that I'm not alone in this strange new world.

AnneX