This is the last of the journal comics from 2016, titled The Job Hunt. As I mentioned last week, this comic has a predecessor called The Layoff. They helped me destress at the time. They also make me uncomfortable.

Part of the discomfort is reliving a very stressful time. These comics don’t tell much of what happened then, but it’s enough to return me there when I read them. It’s a time machine. Another is something akin to airing my dirty laundry. Part of me wants it to be forever private. Mostly I think I just want it all to go away.

And the truth of the matter is, over 3 years later, we’re still feeling the fallout from the decisions we had to make during that moment. That’s how life works, I guess.

Anyway. It’s a comic. There it is.

More importantly, I’m not sure why I included the black currant bushes in this story. Perhaps I was trying to get them picked before the birds got them. Maybe I just liked the sound of the words “black currant bushes” in the script. Either way, everyone knows gooseberries are the superior berry when avoiding the job hunt.

Hands down.

I hesitated reposting The Layoff. Old wounds, and all that. If you’ve ever been let go from a job, you know it sucks. It sucks for years after.

I tried to deal with the experience by making a comic about it. I made two of them, actually – there’s a follow up to this one called The Job Hunt. Then I decided I had enough with journal comics. I don’t like talking about myself.

Of course, here I am talking about myself. Not to mention Pity Party, which is also talking about myself. If I’m going to write journal comics about me, I should write about when I’m feeling happy. It does happen.

Kurt Vonnegut had this great quote about acknowledging when we are happy.

“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”

Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

Between Kurt Vonnegut’s “if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is”, and Ted Lasso’s “be a goldfish”, I could be a whole new man!

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

In all seriousness, if you are going through some kind of job loss, do get the help you need to take care of yourself. Do it sooner than later. If you wait, by the time you realise you need help, you could have already done lasting damage to yourself. And that’s no good.

You deserve to be happy. Onward!