I'm officially unemployed for the first time in... yeah, forever. Correctional Industries (C.I., the corporate arm of DOC) has a policy prohibiting anyone from maintaining employment for more than seven years in the same position. There's a process for extensions, an exception for "Institutional Needs," and the Walla Walla mindset of "Who cares?" That's how I worked in Metal Plant for 15 years, but I digress.
Now, for the first time in 27 years, I'm not busting my hump for an ungrateful branch of the state government that doesn’t consider me an employee despite having to observe all the various labor laws. We're paid a gratuity, not a wage, and that's how they legally get away with exploiting us. I'll write all about that in a future series, but for now, I've got nowhere to be in the morning, and it is glorious.
I mean, I've had tiny breaks here and there, but this? This is different.
It's a weird sensation to go from a decades-long routine to having all your free time back. One day you're working, and the next, you're not. It's a bit jarring as routine is synonymous with sanity in here, but I've gotta say, the ability to catch up on any one of my ten thousand projects is a blessing. I mean, it's no tropical beach, there are no fruity drinks with umbrellas or anything. I still live in a Bates-sponsored motel with no exit, but a vacation is a vacation, right?
With all this newfound "freedom," I've been reinvigorating my workout routine, blogging (duh!), and even managed to finish a nine-panel painting in support of Ukraine. It was supposed to be auctioned off, but life happened, and now it's sitting in some closet. I've had a number of paintings slip between the cracks, but I've time to do more now. I even got caught up on my reading. The last book was about Leonardo Da Vinci. What a different world we live in these days.
Anyhoo, the honeymoon with joblessness didn't last long, maybe three months, before the work bug bit again. This time I stayed away from C.I. and landed a simple porter job here in the unit. It isn't exactly glamorous, cleaning sinks and showers, sweeping and mopping, but it affords me almost the same amount of free time, and there's something pleasantly rewarding about leaving a place cleaner than when you found it.
Being unemployed was a trip, but it let me recenter in a way I hadn't realized I needed. We tend to get trapped in routines and assign importance to the unimportant in here all too easily. The situation allowed me to partake in some serious self-reflection and exercise my adaptability muscles a bit. It's also paved the way for new opportunities and new challenges. I've had another, very intriguing job offer relating to a peer mentorship pilot program. If it manifests, I'll be sure to let you guys know.
'Til then, stay cool and enjoy some leisure time whenever you can. ^_^