Summer Is for Children … and the Unemployed

Remember when summer meant something? 

As a kid, I’d make a special calendar for the month of June – my countdown to fun, rivaled only by Christmas’s advent calendar. 

Hopping around on my PogoBall, slipping n’ sliding, watching Saved By the Bell in the middle of the day, and downing Squeeze-Its like they were going out of style (oh wait, they were) — these  were the lazy summer days of the late 80s. We thought they’d last forever. 

What happened?

Adulthood, that’s what. 

Driven by our career goals (worthwhile as they may be), and faced with grown-up responsibilities, we trade in months of freedom for two weeks of PTO. Instead of afternoons collecting ladybugs or digging up our parents’ backyards, we spend the summer months cooped up in an air-conditioned office. 

And these days, with job stability at record lows, we’re even less inclined to take whatever vacation time we do have.

Each year runs into the next. Time flies, exponentially. We forget what day, week or month it is. It’s already summer? Huh. If it weren’t for my Outlook calendar, I might have missed it altogether. 

And so, my unemployed friends, I urge you to enjoy your freedom this summer. It just may be your last chance.

When the meager job boards get you down, go outside and ride your bike. Roll around in the grass, or run through the sprinklers. Make lemonade (and for a change, we don’t mean the metaphorical kind). Listen up for the the melodic chime of the ice-cream truck. 

Think of unemployment as a rare opportunity to re-live the joys of summer, in a way that would make your eight-year-old self proud. You may not have asked for so much time off, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some of the freedom it affords you.