Recespectations

Writinggal is a victim of the recession. Last week I learned that my weekly column in the Atlanta paper got cut.

Okay, it wasn’t really a “column” as in “Words from Writinggal” or “Shallow Waters” (the latter being my dream name for a syndicated column as in I only write about shallow stuff). It was a weekly article on local people and their favorite workouts. So it wasn’t like the stories were my opinion or anything. But still, it was a regular gig.

So yesterday I felt kind of bummed about that. I thought things like, “I’ve been at this writing thing for three and a half years and what do I have to show for it? I’ve never been published in a big, national magazine, I don’t have a syndicated column or a book and if I were relying on my writing earnings to eat, well I would probably have to cut it down to just breakfast. And I’d have to eat Kroger-brand Kashi.”

I tried to think of who else I could write for and how I could get more work. I started to get myself in hustle-mode. And then I remembered the recession.

And I felt relieved.

See, with a recession going on, you don’t have to feel like a loser. Just the fact that I’m doing any work at all makes me a winner, right? Nobody expects you to be fulfilling your dream right now. A recession lowers expectations. I call them recespectations.

Let’s say it was the year 2000 and you were out of work. People would be like, “What a loser. Why doesn’t she get a job at an awesome dot com? Those things are making tons of money, right?” People had higher expectations at that time. There was a lot of pressure to have a great job and to do something with your life.

But if it was late 2001 and you were out of work, everybody would say, “Oh, it’s because of 9/11.” Recespectations mean you could take any old job. You could be a sacker at the grocery store. All you have to say is the current recession buzz word and you’re off the hook. Back then it was “9/11.” Now it’s “the Economy.”

Like if you had to take a job delivering pizzas right now and the person who opened the door happened to be a buddy of yours and they said, “So you’re delivering pizzas now?” You could just say, “Yep. The Economy.” They would totally sympathize, not judge.

Or if you had worked in real estate and now you’re a janitor, you could use another ’09 buzz phrase: “The housing market.”

So if you’re out of a job, enjoy these recespectations.

I’m not going to give myself a hard time for losing some work. It’s okay to be less than extraordinary right now. In fact, it’s kinda chic. Maybe I’ll work on my book, tentatively titled, “Shove me in the Shallow Waters.” But don’t look for it for a few years. I’m going to wait to publish it. You know, because of the economy.