Unemployment, skills, & the résumé

During this time of “shelter-in-place” and forced unemployment, why not take advantage and reflect upon your skills? And, prepare a résumé? Start sending them out, because this will end, and you’ll want to “hit-the-ground-running”. This is a great opportunity to reflect and refocus. Trust me.

Phases and stages

of life (according to me; and this will make sense later) can be reduced to four. They are:

The Formative years, from zero to twenty, plus or minus depending.
The Reproductive years, from twenty to forty.
The Creative years, from forty to sixty.
The Dying years, from sixty to eighty. (And beyond, depending …)

[ FRCD. Or, in other words, forced by biology, etc. and so on.]

Below, I’ll use my life (because that’s all I really know) as an example. Granted, my life is atypical – but isn’t everyone’s? In that your experience is only ever experienced by you. However, “we” do use averages of groups of people to make assumptions. Lest we be overwhelmed. [Who has time for that?]

So here’s my résumé of skills, reduced to the four phases and stages of life. (In order of skills acquired. So far.)

The Formative years (0-20):

Twenty years old, in 1970, with my best friends — Me and my friend the dog

Civility & manners
K-12 education
Photography
Camping and fishing

The Reproductive years (20-40):

Expanding my cabin to accommodate my expanding family. — I’d do anything to please her

Solo living
Bussing tables
Personell management
Bartending
Marriage
Lumberjacking
Carpentry
Gardening
Design & building
Parenting & step-parenting
Cabinetmaking
Retail management & bookkeeping

The Creative years (40-60):

One story leads to the next - all unknowable. But worth the risk. Yes? — I’ll try anything

Divorce mitigation
Landscaping & waterfall building
Advanced education
Learning, writing, & thinking
Synthesis of analysis & collaborative processing
Mathematical modes of thought
Skills of helping
Counseling of children
Medication administration
Therapeutic crisis intervention
Bookselling & small business management
Writing, publishing books, blogging, & social media management

The Dying years (60-80+):

My blurb in the local collage's flier - hoping to get folks to explore the world — As I’m on the backside of life – still trying …

Classroom teaching, scheduling, & management
Solo living
Psychotherapy

And now so here we are

and what are you going to do?

What am I going to do? Live my life as I’ve always done is the glib answer.

However, some things change and some don’t.

I think I’ll stop here and reflect before I write more …

Unemployment, skills, & the résumé