Being Light of "Stuff"
When I got laid off from my job as a product designer for a software development company, I felt the usual gamut of emotions ranging from disbelief, betrayal, powerlessness to acceptance. The initial "I can't believe it's happening to me...again" made way to "I see this as an opportunity to start over". Hmm, start over? Re-make my life into one that fills me with meaning, joy, adventure and spirit? Perhaps, only in my dreams.
What I was thinking of was to peel away the layers of wants, desires, and the physical and emotional baggage that have enveloped me for the last 10 years. Since I entered my best earning years in my mid-30s, I also seemed to have acquired a looser attitude towards the acquisition of "stuff". Stuff of everyday life that clutters my physical and emotional space. This "stuff" can be as prosaic as electronic devices or people who belongs in the periphery of my life, but push themselves into the center from time to time. I took the lay-off as an opportunity to de-clutter my life from all this "stuff".
One "stuff" that I unloaded was the concept of a "permanent employee". This decision was not taken lightly. In all my 20 years of working life, I have worked as a so-called "permanent employee" for a company. This has also include two lay-offs along the way (ironic given the "permanent" status of my employment). I had no plans to start my own business. In my field, if you're not working for a company, you're working on hire for others as a contractor or consultant.
In deciding to work as a contractor, I seriously considered what it meant to my financial security since I was on my own. There was no trust fund, or lottery winnings, or a fully employed spouse for back up. I was on my own. It was a risk to take, but I decided to take it. In that regard, I'm no different from many mid-life women, according to author Barbara Moses, whose book Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth about Work, Relationships and the Rest of Their Life, provides a revealing glimpse of the career options that mid-life women are taking at this stage of their life. In return, I hoped to gain time ... a more precious commodity than all the "stuff" I own or populate my life.
What I was thinking of was to peel away the layers of wants, desires, and the physical and emotional baggage that have enveloped me for the last 10 years. Since I entered my best earning years in my mid-30s, I also seemed to have acquired a looser attitude towards the acquisition of "stuff". Stuff of everyday life that clutters my physical and emotional space. This "stuff" can be as prosaic as electronic devices or people who belongs in the periphery of my life, but push themselves into the center from time to time. I took the lay-off as an opportunity to de-clutter my life from all this "stuff".
One "stuff" that I unloaded was the concept of a "permanent employee". This decision was not taken lightly. In all my 20 years of working life, I have worked as a so-called "permanent employee" for a company. This has also include two lay-offs along the way (ironic given the "permanent" status of my employment). I had no plans to start my own business. In my field, if you're not working for a company, you're working on hire for others as a contractor or consultant.
In deciding to work as a contractor, I seriously considered what it meant to my financial security since I was on my own. There was no trust fund, or lottery winnings, or a fully employed spouse for back up. I was on my own. It was a risk to take, but I decided to take it. In that regard, I'm no different from many mid-life women, according to author Barbara Moses, whose book Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth about Work, Relationships and the Rest of Their Life, provides a revealing glimpse of the career options that mid-life women are taking at this stage of their life. In return, I hoped to gain time ... a more precious commodity than all the "stuff" I own or populate my life.
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