Christmas time is highly stressful for the unemployed

I know all too well the feelings of stress around Christmas time when a person is unemployed or if their business is not doing well. This is my second year in a row that I have been unemployed at this time of year. Last year my only real Christmas gift was a phone call telling me that I start a new job the first week of the new year. It took the sting out of the stress just in time to relax on Christmas day. It is hard to watch people merrily spending right and left when I go to the store just to buy essentials. I come home with just a touch of anxiety.

I also get pissed off when I am with other people that are watching the TV news and hear one of them say "why doesn't that person just get a job?", then look at me real quick and say "not you of course". Now how am I suppose to take that? The people saying that are usually the type that have never gone through a period of extended unemployment.

If you are unemployed it seems to also go against you when you are looking for work. How do you explain a period of 9 months or between jobs? A woman can say she took care of a sick relative or decided to take some time off to be a homemaker but what does a man say? I also feel there is much more stress on a man than a women when it comes to the stigma of being unemployed.

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