Pretty color, ugly mood. It is a common human experience, especially during periods of unemployment, even more so in extended unemployment. It can be brought on by exasperatingly marathons of job searching effort, a growing sense of worthlessness because "NO ONE" will hire us, and when we feel debt hanging over our heads like the Sword of Damocles. When we are feeling weak or defeated, we start to believe anything that enters our heads---and we are our own worst prosecutors.
Negativism resulting from depression can show up in our attitudes, not only to those around us everyday, but it can also be unintentionally communicated to interviewers. Literally, there is "no future in it."
Not everyone will agree with me that this is essentially a spiritual problem, but it is. When I experience this feeling, it's because I'm wallowing in self-pity due to misplaced pride in myself. It is a time when I forget that God is indeed in control. It is an ugly shade of blue that comes over me.
When this happens, it is time for me to reassess myself and attitude and to realign myself with the only Source of inner peace (eirene in the the New Testament). It is where I live, who I am, and Who I know loves and takes care of me. For so much of the world though, eirene is indeed a foreign term. I feel for everyone out of work. Perhaps some of the other resources below will be of some comfort:
The Layoff Survival Guide, Nancy Collamer http://www.layoffsurvivalguide.com/
The Stress of Unemployment: Managing The Emotional Roller Coaster http://www.net-temps.com/careerdev/index.htm?type=topics&id=163&op=print
Facing Unemployment: Ten Steps to Handling Your Unemployment Anxiety http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/200902/facing-unemployment-ten-steps-handling-your-unemployment-anxiety
Worried Sick About Finding Work? Listen to One Man's Inspirational Tale http://www.hrguru.com/news/articles/2256-worried-sick-about-finding-work-listen-to-one-mans-inspirational-tale?utm_source=nlet&utm_content=hg_r6_20090401_indu
Christian Helps for Unemployment Anxiety
Unemployment Survival Guide http://www.everydaychristian.com/work/story/204/
Playing the Game (Christian Career Guide), http://christiancareertools.com/play-the-career-failure-game-and-win/
Confronting Unemployment
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/lifechallenges/life_transitions/confronting_unemployment.aspx
This last resource really hits the matter dead on, "For many, identity and occupation are linked. Our self-image is often formed by our career accomplishments and how those affect our family's perception of us. It's no wonder, then, that a career change can throw every aspect of life into a tailspin." When we are so self-absorbed, we experience unnecessary pain and stress during unemployment, apart from any financial stresses that may be facing us. The non-Christian job search resources also encourage volunteerism and reaching out to others to direct your attention away from yourself and get a balanced perspective on things during your job search.
There is one thing that all of us who are unemployed agreed on: we want a job...NOW! Unemployment "free time" is way overrated. It can open us up to succumbing to an overwhelming sense of fear, which can lead to anxiety and depression.
Cicero sums the end result of self-absorbing fear/anxiety and the resulting depression up well when alluding to the Sword of Damocles in the Tusculan Disputations, "Does not Dionysius seem to have made it sufficiently clear that there can be nothing happy for the person over whom some fear always looms?" Tusculan Disputations, V. 61–62
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