Posted December 26, 2015
The thing is that I got laid off from my job last week and now I just feel really unmotivated to do anything. I have no money to spend on games since, well look at the last sentence and I'm just feeling quite sad.
I think I'll just go lie in bed and watch NorthernLion play The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth...
What to do, what to do? :(
That being said, this isn't an insurmountable problem. I just recently read my first book in Chinese and that took me quite a bit of effort over a long period of time to achieve. The secret was turning it into a habit and focusing on the fact that I was working on it regularly. In your case, considering a completed application as success is likely to get you out of the funk faster than anything else. If you fill out enough applications you'll get an interview eventually. If you go on enough interviews you'll eventually get a job. As long as you're applying for jobs where you have a plausible claim to qualification success will come eventually.
Right now since it's so hard for you to do anything, the goal each day might need to be just one application completed. Then mark it down on a calendar that you completed the goal and reward yourself for it. Obviously, since you're unemployed, the reward needs to be something that's free. Ideally it also needs to be something that isn't also self-care. So, spending time with friends is not an acceptable reward as withholding that if you don't meet your goal is punishment and counterproductive.
Most likely you'll find that with each mark on the calendar that you'll find it easier and easier to convince yourself that you can apply for jobs. And the easier it is to do that, the more likely it is that you'll find a job.
The other thing you can do, is to just take a job that sucks or one that's in a high turn over field and work that while you look for something better. I currently work in a warehouse loading delivery trucks. I kind of like it, but it's clearly not an acceptable job to keep long term as the pay isn't good enough to support myself. I'm getting a second job in a couple weeks to make that work, but when I applied, I knew that it was a job that I could get and keep by busting my ass long enough and hard enough.
Also, affirmations are rather powerful. Your subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between reality and fiction, so if you get yourself good and relaxed and talk about how you're good enough, smart enough and how much people like you, there's a really good chance that you'll come to feel that way before too long.
