This means I'm back in the same situation I was in before: clueless as to what to do for money. Oh, but wait! There's a twist: now my architect's license has expired, so I'm even more unemployable in the field than I was before. (I knowingly let it expire, because I couldn't justify the $300 to renew it when there's little chance I'll get a job using it.)
I managed to make it to the age of 36 without ever being fired or laid off, so this has taken a major toll on my self esteem. The longer this drags on, the less confident I am in my ability to do anything. Even though I was in a field I absolutely hated, I am desperate to go back, because I feel like a complete loser being unemployed. It's a little too similar to an abusive relationship, except that with a relationship, remaining single is always an option. Remaining unemployed is not. (No, I'm not trivializing abusive relationships. I'm just bad at crafting decent analogies.)
As always, art is not a career option, because I like having health insurance. And money.
