Let’s start with the downside. You picked up the dreaded pink slip. This did not do wonders for your self-esteem. You then looked around the job market and found precisely no jobs. It seems every employer has given up the idea of expansion. They are all hunkered down waiting for the recession to end. Only when all we consumers get back out into the malls and start spending again will the wheels of manufacturing and commerce start turning again. Until then, it’s the survival of the fittest – my apologies for mentioning Darwin, but it seems appropriate when applied the the species of employer. So with self-esteem on the floor and depression lurking in the corner of your mind wondering whether it should come out and join the party, it’s all too easy to slip into really bad habits. You become one of the dreaded couch potatoes, suddenly fascinated by the offerings of daytime TV. With nothing else to occupy yourself, you snack and hit the soda bottles. The results show in the first month. With a job and all the exercise of getting out of the house and running round to earn a living, you were reasonably thin. Now you are unoccupied, you find your waist growing and everything else starting to sag. It occurs to you that this may not help you find another job when the market improves. There’s a lot of discrimination out there and, with a choice between thinner and fatter candidates for a job, employers tend to pick the thinner ones because they are less likely to have health problems.
So let’s turn this around. Now you are unemployed, you have the time to do something about those extra pounds. When you were working full time, the work was always a convenient excuse. There were just not enough hours in the day. You were tired when you got home. You needed the weekend for quality time with the family. We have all played this game. Well, no more! This is your chance to begin a daily routine of exercise. If you have a gym membership, start working out. Talk to the trainers and get them to devise a good set of programs to help you lose some of that weight. If the cost of gym membership is too much, do not let this be another excuse. Outside your home there is an endless supply of exercise equipment. It’s called the sidewalk. Dress appropriately and start walking. Find slopes and then hills. Never mind the strange and pitying looks you get from drivers. Walking is one of the best all-round forms of exercise. Continue reading →