If you’re unemployed, your main goal is obvious: to land a job. But in my years of coaching job seekers, I often share with them an equally important dual goal during this time between jobs: self-care.

Taking care of yourself

Being in between jobs is touch — actually, it’s one of the toughest life transitions we go through, and often we’re not taught how to go through it. And our experiences are marked by passivity, isolation, and negative thoughts.

You can think of this time as “this is happening to me” or you can think of this as “I am going to make things happen.” You can be passive or active; you can wait for the next job or take control of your life today and make your life your job. How you handle the “job” of being in between your last job and the next will be up to you. You have a choice to make.

I remember when I graduated University and was struggling to figure out my career and bounced between survival jobs, I was having a really tough stretch and it impacted me on many levels. I developed bad eating habits, didn't exercise and passivity took a hold on me. To climb my way back to a healthy state, I first needed to realize that taking care of myself is the first step and a priority when you're unemployed.