What My Daily Routine Actually Looks Like After Losing My Job
A daily routine after losing my job doesn’t look like anyone else’s. Here’s what mine actually looks like now and how different it is from before. I used to get to the office in the morning and settle in before anything else started. I would prepare my coffee and just have that time, usually alone, quiet, the whole place to myself before anyone else arrived.
It was probably my favourite part of the morning, that stretch before I got stuck into my to-do list and the rest of the day turned into whatever it was going to turn into. Coffee first, then the list. That was the whole thing.
The Routine That Disappeared
None of that exists anymore. I lost my job suddenly, and with it went the whole shape of my day, not just the income. It feels like another life now, not just a few months ago. You don’t really know how good you had it until it’s gone, and I find myself grateful now for those little moments I never thought twice about back then.
These days I grab a coffee from Vida or Checkers after drop-off, whichever one’s on the way, and take it into my car for the next hour or so while I wait for traffic to die down before heading home. And it’s not just the coffee and the list that changed either. Even getting dressed became its own decision to make, something I’ve written about separately, because that one deserves its own space.
None of this happened gradually; there wasn’t a slow build-up or some moment where it all clicked. It was sudden, and I had to adapt immediately. But I’m a solution-focused person by nature; if someone brings me a problem, I’ve usually already got five ways to fix it before they’ve finished talking, and that’s exactly what happened here.
By the time the news actually landed, I was already thinking about what I was going to do next. I won’t lie, it’s tiring, and I’m definitely driving a lot more than I used to. But honestly, the waiting is the part that gets me. Whatever else fills my day, waiting for the kids to finish school is the one thing I’m doing every single day, all the time, no matter what else changes around it.
Why I Still Build a To-Do List Every Day
I think that’s actually why the busyness matters so much to me now. It’s less about ticking things off or staying on top of life and more about keeping my head in the right place. It’s momentum, it’s mental health, it’s proof to myself that I’m still moving forward even on the days it doesn’t feel like it.
I’ve got more empty hours in a day now than I would like, so I make a point of filling them with whatever I can throughout the day. I’m still building to-do lists every morning, nothing formal, usually just in my head, and I honestly can’t say I’ve had a day where I’ve sat and done nothing. It’s just not in me. I’m a restless person by nature; I love being busy, constantly working on something, which is probably why multitasking has always come so naturally to me.
So I run errands, answer personal emails, and write content for the blog, and job hunting alone has taken up more of my time than I ever expected it to.
What I’ve realised, though, is that this isn’t about staying productive for the sake of it. What I find most satisfying about this unemployed version of my to-do list is that it’s mine. It’s not a reward at the end of a hard day; it’s the thing getting me through the day in the first place. So when I say it’s mine, for my growth, for my own opportunities, that’s not separate from coping; that’s what coping has turned into for me.
The Evenings Are Different Too
Before, once we got home from pickup, there was usually still something to finish. Emails, work on the CRM, whatever needed to be done that day. It wasn’t that anyone was watching the clock; it was a structure I had built myself, a flexible way of making the job work around pickup rather than the other way round, and some evenings that meant an hour or so of catching up once we were home. There was something satisfying about having built a flexible system that was entirely mine to manage.
But now we get home, and the evening is just the evening. I might sort dinner early, do a bit of tidying, get some laundry going, or just make a cup of tea and catch up on social media while the kids do their own thing. It’s slower. There’s nothing left over from earlier in the day trailing into the evening anymore.
And if I’m honest, even missing the old structure a little, I think this is the part I like most. Not the to-do list, not the productivity, just that the evening is finally allowed to be slow.
Still figuring out the money side of starting over?
I didn’t build The Honest Reset from theory; I built it from standing in the Checkers aisle doing maths that had nothing to do with a calculator. It’s a 38-page guide for facing your actual numbers, stripped of guilt and wishful thinking.
Read the full story behind it here: The Guide I Made For The Woman Standing Where I Am