anyone help me out?

LegacyUser

Right so I'm hoping someone can help me out or point me in the right direction

I'm a lad living out in Swords. I hadn't moved out here too long when I got made redundant. Since then I've been looking for a job but to be honest work is a bit thin on the ground in my sector so I apply out of hope rather than expectation these days. I've also tried applying for a load of other stuff and its looks no better there. So unfortunately it looks like I might be out of work for a while more.

As I said, I'm new out here in the area. Most of my friends live much closer to the city centre. And thankfully most of them are still fully employed.

However, the problem I have now is I am completely bored out of my skull every day. I get up in the morning. Check the job listings, apply for whatever I can, do whatever needs doing around my place, go for a run and generally end up with feck all to do all day.

There are only so many books a person can read or dvds you can watch. Its been a few months now and I'm going out of my tree. My mates have been good enough coming out to see me (considering I live a fair distance away from most) but when I do see them its in the evenings after they finish work if I manage to meet someone during the week. But mostly its at the weekends.

Basically I'm bored and lonely. I literally don't know anyone in the area so theres no one that close to pop round to or whatever. So what I'm wondering does anyone know of a site or place for people like myself who just want something to do or a bit of interaction during the day? Everyone throws out the old line 'do a course' but unfortunately courses cost money (i'm walking a fine line as it is with the redundancy money) and most of them are in the evenings.

I miss having something to do during the day. I'm surprised at how much I miss having that space filled. I had no problem coming home and not seeing or talking to anyone during the week when i was busy working. After a long hard day sometimes all you want to do is flake out. But now if i don't end up meeting a friend during the week say (as I said they are good bunch but they have their own stuff to be doing to!) I might go 3-4 days where my only interaction is with the checkout girl in tesco or whatever.

I feel a bit weird asking about this here but its really getting to me. So if anyone has any suggestions as to meeting people in a similar situation or something please let me know.


I shoud add here that I don't drive so I can't just go for a spin around wherever (not that I could afford to be running a car) or taking 3 or 4 buses a day just to amuse myself by going into the city centre or whatever (couldn't afford that either)

shellyboo

Are there any charity organisations round your area? Maybe do some volunteering with local clubs, something like that. It'd fill up your time and give you a sense of purpose.

Denerick

The despair of the suburbian!

Living in a concentrated residential area with very few amenities is a big problem in itself. I can imagine not talking to anyone for 3 of 4 days would drive you barmy. All I can suggest is perhaps getting involved in an amatuer football team or something (You say you jog, which marks you as being more fit than most...) Other than that, there's not much I can say...

(Although 'courses cost' is not strictly true. Have a look at your local VEC adult education courses. They wouldn't cost much. But then again you probably don't need to be doing introductory Microsoft Word courses...)

LegacyUser

thanks for the suggestions both of you. believe it or not I'm on a waiting list for volunteer work but most of it around here seems to be at the weekends anyway.

Denerick, it is driving me barmy. I never would have thought of myself as a patricularly needy kind of person or anything but i guess I didn't realise how much I'd miss human interaction that I take for granted.

Who'd have thought you could have loads of good friends and still feel lonely so much! Yeah i know some courses are free but as you point out they are all pretty basic. Any stuff I found in the locality that was payment based though.

I know joining a sports team is an option. I actually play cricket during the summer. However, while something to do one evening a week would be nice, its more the mind numbing boredom of each long day.

I still get up at 9am (which is pretty late) because I don't want to fall into some horrible habit of getting up mid afternoon or something. Since I don't need much sleep even getting up 2 hours later than I'm used to has effected my sleeping pattern as you can see!

I guess I was hoping there might be some kind of groups for people in similar circumstances or even a chat board online or something. I guess its a pretty vain hope though. I just worry what I'll be like if i'm unemployed for say another 6 months or more (which is feasible). I think it might actually start to have an impact on my well being

LegacyUser

I know what you're going through OP. The days really drag when you're not working your friends & family are.

Try www.halfaloaf.ie which might be of help to you.

monicafussy

Have you tried jobsclub?

Sleepy

Is there a FÁS course you'd be interested in? Might be worth popping in and having a chat about what's available in the area. Even if it's something which may not necessarily be of direct use to your job-hunting it'd get you out of the house a few hours a day...

You could also look at the professional qualifications available to you, many of the IT courses have 'self-paced study kits' which you do yourself and then just pay to sit the certification exam (about €80 each for Microsoft qualifications). The libraries have some of the MS books and you'd find it pretty easy to get them second hand on-line (or elsewhere on-line if you get my drift). If you're in a different area, maybe see what's out there for your industry?

LegacyUser

hey thanks. That halfaloaf.ie seems a very good discussion forum for the unemployed. I've had a good skim of the site so far and it looks reasonably promising. Seems a little light on actual meetings and I guess rather than boredom its the isolation thats the problem but i'll see what I turn up. Thanks again.

Monica I have been at jobsclub before (I was unemployed for a brief period after leaving college) and I won't go back again. It may be for some but it certainly had nothing to offer me and, while I hate to sound like I'm up on my high horse, the one i was sent to by the dole officer was populated with 95% serious scumbags. Also, it was completely useless for gaining employment.

I have scouted FAS courses but there is nothing in the area even mildly relevant. I appreciate that I could spend sometime doing study online and then just take the exam modules. However, as I said its the isolation thats the problem more than the boredom.

Thanks for the replies though people. I'll keep looking around to see what I can find!