The importance of having a job
On TikTok and Youtube, I have been hearing about the joys of retiring early. Yet from my experience of not having a job for a long period of time. It is a bad idea.
Throughout my life I have always had objectives from following a recipe to cook a delicious Thai dish, building an Ikea bed using a step-by-step guide, or doing Engineering assignments until 4am hoping to get an A. Through reflections, I realized that these tasks were essential to my happiness.
The tasks that made me happy were not the fact of building a bed and enjoying the result of good sleep, but to have a challenge that made me think, reflect, and problem-solve, and to overcome these challenges and obtain a result at the end.
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But when I became unemployed (and how I imagine retired life to be). I didn’t have any challenges or goals. Yes, I wanted to make money to go out to restaurants and do activities. But I didn’t plan what activities to do, plan to face new challenges, or encounter difficult challenges. The only challenge I felt that I encountered was the frustrating interview process of large companies, not finding a TV show to watch on Netflix, and not knowing what to do today or tomorrow.
FUCK — boredom hit me hard.
I felt no self-love, no challenges, no goals to achieve. I felt lonely. But this perspective and experience was self-built, due to how I planned my day and the routines and activities I filled my week with.
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If you recently became unemployed or retired and are feeling bored and are wondering what to do with your day. I recommend these 3 activities:
- Take a walk outside once a day for 15 minutes
- Use Meetup.com to find social activities that you would enjoy doing once a week
- Each Monday, spend time planning 1 activity you could do each day
Let me know in the comments if you also struggle with unemployment or early retirement.
Benjamin
