Are you on a paycation?

So, you've found yourself in recession-hot water and decided to bathe in the newfound freedom of "funemployment" instead. But what will you do when the fun dies, and you get a double whammy of boredom and guilt? Self-confessed funemployee Kasmin Fernandes has some answers

Paycation. Unemploymentality. Freegan. The current financial crisis has thrown up new urban buzzwords to define situations earlier unknown. The latest one is "funemployment"; a happy time in one's life when one is not employed, and does not want to be employed. A new breed of young people is taking career breaks or using the time between jobs to blog about their passions, roam the streets and art galleries, travel to exotic countries and have fun along the way.

Strange as it sounds to the urban Indian workaholic who is perennially tied to the cubicle by an umbilical cord, this is a state of being that existed even before recession hit us. I've been a "funemployee" for a year, and have encountered many others who briefly were. Like 36-year-old banker Sandeep Mathur, who quit a dead-end job last year to take time off from the corporate grind. In the nine months before he took up another more lucrative job, Sandeep had taken a solo trip to Turkey, a vacation in Thailand, a road trip along the Konkan and short treks in other parts of India. "Travelling gave me the time and space for deep thought and catch up on reading. I was completely at peace with myself," he says.

Purvi Patel learnt how to swim after she quit her job at a multinational

"Volunteering is great because it gives you another perspective on life and money," says Sandeep, who tutored underprivileged school kids at NGO Akanksha. "The kids taught me more about life than I taught them about words," he adds. Leaving office life has also brought some face-to-face with their true calling. Twenty-eight-year-old qualified MBA and engineer Ashish Biswas went from content writer to HR consultant to film marketing manager before it hit him that filmmaking is what he is meant to do. "Within a week, I quit my job at the ad agency. The two months before work came along, all I did was watch films and read up on filmmaking. My MBA came to good use at the part time faculty job I took up at an institute, to support myself. Those were great months!" says the ad film chief assistant director.

When you are bored
Do something... anything: Sandeep says, "It's easy to get lethargic and start daydreaming because of the free time on hand. Find something constructive to do, especially during the day since most of your friends will be at work."

Find a support system: "My B-school friends came to my rescue whenever I was broke or depressed," says Ashish. Surround yourself with friends and family members who understand and support your decision. Ignore critics and doubters; they could be envious because you are enjoying a phase they don't have the courage to embrace. "This phase will also show you who your real friends are," says Purvi.

Volunteer: This is something you won't have the luxury to attempt when you hold down a full-time job. In many ways, giving your time to others less privileged than you, will teach you life lessons no self-help book can. "You'll also make friends in groups you otherwise don't come across," says Sandeep.

She wants you to think about this
Says Michelle Goodman, freelance writer since 1992 and author of My So-Called Freelance Life and The Anti 9-to-5 Guide:
"Funemployment only works if you have a parent, partner, or fat savings account to keep you and any dependents afloat. But the real question for the happily funemployed is: Will you stick with your current bare-bones budget and newfound work/life balance even after we make it out of this recession?"

Flaunt unemployed status with buttons
American designer and art director Irina Blok has taken inspiration from her unemployed status to produce a series of cool $2 buttons on the theme that have slogans like, "Laid Off", "Funemployed" and "Happily Jobless". She has printed her resume on a t-shirt that you can buy. All at www.iloveblocks.com

Where to find inspiration:
>Funemploymentblog.blogspot.com: Famous San Francisco-based funemployee Alexis runs this blog "because not everyone is lucky enough to work at a job they can't stand).
>Fun-employment.com: Lists fun things to do "while other people are at work".
>Funemployednyc.com: A bunch of laid-off writers in New York give their pun-intended observations on fun and joblessness.

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