Well it’s been freaking ages since I updated this thing but I was busy and not really in the frame of mind for blogging. Today though I return to the fold of on-line thought sharing. The world has moved on and then some since the last time I posted and indeed my own life, as well as the lives of some of those I’m closest to, has undergone some changes in that time. Some of us have finished up in jobs, some have graduated, others have emigrated – perhaps for good. A huge wave of change has swept through everyone’s lives and whether they were big changes, like those that can happen in the life of university students, or not, it’s safe to say that no one’s life is quite the same as it was only a few short months ago. The world in which we live seems to be about to re-invent itself, it has to to survive, and if I’m honest all these changes were less than welcome when they were happening and can be scary at times to think about.
The first week of unemployment was tough for me I do have to admit. I went home for a few days and almost exclusively did nothing. Watching TV, eating and generally worrying my father that I might never get out of that reclining chair again were the highlights really. I was very mopey and I guess the only positive I can report about those days is that they were spent in Mullaknock, a place which I’m willing to bet few of you will ever have heard of, never mind came close to visiting. Which meant that nobody but my family were there to witness it.
Since returning to Dublin however my mood has shifted somewhat. I’m still looking for a meaningful job and I still have loose threads to pick up in my life, but I came to the realisation lately that while we’re all now blown to the four winds, we still remain the people we were. Sure being unemployed isn’t fulfilling and I’d rather do anything than sit on the dole, but that doesn’t reduce my worth as a person. All those qualities I had when I was working, I still have them now, and no one can take them away from me. And even if I’m not working, I’m determined to find a way to put them to good use. What we leave behind isn’t as important as how we’ve lived. Not my words, but they are damned good ones.
I miss a lot of my friends these days. It’s not as easy to talk to some of them as it once was and it may be a long time before I see some of them in the real world again. But what they have given to me, by being my friend, I will carry with me. I will use this to see me through the lean times when they are absent, and I will rejoice when the time comes to refill them again. I now know that missing friends is a good thing, it means that they meant something to you in the first place.
Change can be planned or unplanned, foreseen or unforseen, welcome or unwelcome, but most importantly it can be managed. If you stay positive it can even be managed well.
