intentional unemployment

today's prompt touches on something that has been on my mind often as of late.

we are coming up quickly on my anniversary of unemployment. I'm sure some people still think I'm crazy to quit a well-paid job and abandon a promising career to move to the other side of the world. [and to be honest, sometimes, I am one of those people] Husband teaches and so does pretty much every other person I hang out with. so when we meet a new friend they usually assume I am also a teacher. when they find I am not, it leads to the question I have come to dread most:

so... what do you do?

back when I was freshly unemployed I wrote a really great post addressing the similar question I kept receiving at that time: what are you going to do? sometimes I look back at that post and find my younger, pre-Taiwan self annoyingly optimistic [dancing unicorns, really?] sometimes I find it inspiring and mentally hi-five myself. and sometimes I look back at the past nine months and ask myself if I've been using this opportunity to the fullest.

when you wake up every morning with a day full of endless possibilities, it can be scary. what do you choose when you have no [or limited] obligations and an abundance of freedom?

sometimes I worry about my lack of career and lack of direction and get wrapped up in small things like Costco runs and washing dishes. sometimes I get lost on the internet and forget to go out and explore and wonder. and it's true my expectations may have been more than what is realistic. but if I'm being honest I have been using this opportunity. I've done [or started] a lot of those things I wrote about. the fact that I didn't panic and hop a flight home after my first week in Taiwan is an accomplishment in and of itself. the rest... scooting and language barriers and cooking without an oven and risking my life every time I try a new restaurant is all progress above and beyond.

so back to the topic at hand. when someone asks "what do you do?" they almost always are implying "... for a living" or "... as a career." and the title of our occupation is our instinctual response. right now I can't answer that question with my job, because I don't have one. whatever money I currently earn from subbing is basically pocket change to fuel my nailpolish and Anthropologie addictions. I don't consider it a job.

could I find work here? easily. but I choose not to. and lucky for me, our situation allows for Husband to support us both. coming from the states and especially Michigan, people automatically think of unemployment as a bad thing and something to be pitied. there's no denying that doing a job and doing it well can be a great source of satisfaction and self-worth. but I am much happier for not having a job. mostly because I have the freedom to pursue my happiness.

obviously, that's not an easy or quick thing to explain to a near-stranger who merely was asking what you do, whether out of curiosity or politeness. so I devised a phrase: I am intentionally unemployed.

I don't have a "career" or what I feel is a clearly defined role in life. every morning I wake up and unless I am subbing or fostering a dog or committed to a skype date, I am free to choose to do what I please. who am I? what do I do? there are any number of responses I could give: I am a writer, a photographer, an explorer, a substitute teacher, a housewife, an artist, a baker, a blogger, an adventurer... heck, a collector of washi tape. I do all of those things. 

but the simplest truth is... I am whoever I choose to be. in that day, in that moment. so in a world where I can do anything - almost literally anything - what do I do? I love, I create, I learn, and I live. 

and sometimes wash the dishes.