The first day after being laid off is the hardest day. Actually, scratch that. let’s start again.
The first day after being laid off stops is the hardest day. And that fact is very, very weird.
It doesn’t seem to fit in my mind that it should have been hard. After all, wasn’t full, gainful employment the point of all this? The struggle to find a full client load and the need for you to sit at a computer for hours straight.
The first clients that come in are easy — you get those done during naptime. More come in, and you add hours here and there. But then you snag either a contract hourly job (that’s what I did), or a large client with a load of work to do, and suddenly you can’t spend mornings with your son anymore. And that sucks.
As a Dad, you have to set that aside and provide for the household, of course. I mean, of course you do. But those feelings are there; and if your son is in the house while you’re working in the house, expect them to come in and visit several times an hour.
We’ve tried having me ignore lilJ when he comes in (surprisingly ineffective), and scheduling times for AWo to take lilJ out of walks to the park. Things not helping the walks to the park right now: Blizzard 2010.
So anyway, it’s hard. Don’t expect total awesomeness just because the work starts coming in. The silver lining, as always: paying the mortgage.
Related Work
Laid Off? Appreciate 1 Thing Today
January 2010 Checkup
Unexpected Awfulness Post Layoff: Sharing a Computer
