Community Employment Resource Centre

Overwhelmed? Take Control

Many people today are feeling, yes, depressed about the job market and even their current work situation (remember, job search is a full time job!!) In general, individuals are suffering from “the state of things”.

  Depression:

· Feeling of helplessness to control events

· Belief that there is no relationship between what you do and what happens to you – feeling bad things will continue to occur and think about future with pessimism

· Anger turned inward – comments regarding self – “If I was a strong person, I wouldn’t put up with this”

However, not everyone takes this approach. There are some that take a healthy look at the “bad” things and see them as an opportunity to do something meaningful. There is more of an “I can’t control what happens globally, but I can control how I manage my physic world” outlook.

Are you feeling overwhelmed??

Take this simply test by responding to the below statements:

· You are no longer engaged by your work (this includes job search)

· You have become emotionless to things that you used to care about

· You are frequently tired

· You find yourself saying “whatever” and giving up on issues that once you would have been concerned about and tried to change

· You are not interested in or proud of what you do, who you are

· You flirt with the idea of quitting but think: “It will be too much work to find something else.” “Things will be no different.”

 If any of these statements reflect how you are feeling about your current career, you have sunk into career inertia (remember job searching is a job!!)

Steps to try and overcome:

· Identify what is interfering with your experiences of engagement – work, global happenings, number of responsibilities

· Pay attention to your feelings – possibly keep a journal to identify high and low points, what are the common themes?

· Ask yourself – “Am I simply going through the motions or do I really want to do this?” “If I were feeling confident, what would I be doing?”

· Be bold – try tough moves, something that would give you a sense of accomplishment

· Make a commitment and ask a friend to monitor you

In closing, consider this quote from a first century scholar, Hillel: “If I am not for myself, who is for me? When I am for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”