I got laid off (from a horrible, miserable job) last week - company is tanking and "reduced the workforce" by 50%. This week I start collecting unemployment. I wasn't even making that high of a salary, but I get the max for unemployment - $519/week gross. This will more than pay for rent, gas, health insurance and groceries. I live modestly and have a healthy amount of safety savings in the bank.
My understanding is that it lasts for 26 or so weeks; and now the gov't will pay 65% of my COBRA payment too. This is absolutely amazing. I'm being paid to do nothing. PAID. To do. Nothing.
In the last week I have been through a rollercoaster of emotions, everything from "wow this sucks" and feeling really betrayed by coworkers, etc to feeling super great and liberated and hopeful of finding something better, at some point.
But right now, at this moment, I am riding the wave of feeling that unemployment is bliss. Running at the high school track mid-day yesterday was an unparalleled feeling. Sleeping in this morning, too. It's a gorgeous spring day and I'm not caged up in a cubicle. I can go outside and breathe the fresh air, listen to the birds sing, feel the sunshine. I can run whenever the hell I want. Running is my passion in life and for the next six months at least (if it happens that way) I don't have to push it to the periphery. Yes, I do want to and will work some time again. But for right now I am really soaking in how phenomenal this is.
Feel free to share my joy or snap me back to some reality I'm unaware of..