Money, Survival & Me: How I’m Finding Stability Without a Job

Times are tough, it is a no-brainer. You don’t have to look to be able to see it. There is a rise in the cost of living be it in the trading or buying of goods or simply the mere act of existing, everything has a cost that is twinkling up there with the stars. 

Food costs a kidney or two, electricity costs are at an all-time high, jobs are meagre to come by and when they do, there is little of their conformity with the rising cost of taxation or living. 

The dollar is all green and shiny at the stark expense of the shilling which is a bad thing because it has a knack for making every other thing lose its lustre. To be alive is to pay through the nose for it and any meaningful joyful existence has been narrowed down to the life of a hamster on a wheel, survival. 

For a freelancer wallowing in the unwarranted joys of bachelorhood, existence is a tad painful but the mere thought of how people with families are making ends meet is a small cause for counting my blessings, however fickle they appear.

Read Also: How to Live Through Financial Instability Without Losing your Mind

What Next?

There is little fun in living in a financial crisis. Economic crunches have a knack for bringing out the worst in humans who will do anything to cope. Civil unrest ( as experienced in powerhouse economies such as South Africa and France) is the least of our worries. 

With more unemployed youth who need to eat and live, comes bigger problems like insecurity and a general sense of social angst. We become and act like caged animals because of pent-up frustrations lacking an outlet for venting. 

And so, in my prediction, we will have more cases of mental depravity and health which in turn are a catalyst for a generally dysfunctional society.

But should a financial crisis be considered the end of the world?

Hardly so. This is not the first time that such is happening. Economic crises come and go, but human life goes on and on, we live, we learn and we make do with what we have.

So you have lost your job for one reason or the other at the literal worst point in time, what do you do? Say you just cleared school and you have been on the trek for a job but none are forthcoming. That famed uncle from your village always boasting about connections who had asked you to send your papers over the festive tipple is now a ghost. 

You are on your own, what do you do?

Read Also: How Much Should a Family Save for Emergencies in 2023

Tips to Survive a Financial Crisis in Kenya

1. Avoid a Habit

You are a drowning man and the last thing you want in your life when you are at your lowest is an anchor for a necklace. Vices become habits. 

Mental fragility will have you looking for comfort to fill a void and alcohol, drugs and vices should be the last on your list of things to do. 

I know of men who lost jobs, teetotalers who picked up the bottle and refused to drop it even when they stared at the ends of their lives in that brown liquid, they would not just stop being slaves to the vice. 

Habits make a person, just don’t let it be the wrong habit.

Read Also: 5 Daily Habits to Improve Your Finances

2. The enemy is Ego.

You will have to leave your ego at the door. I know you used to frequent the funkiest joints in town, whole mbogis of men and women with calls of mkuu and Kiongoss ringing in your ears. 

Discard the titles and the mindset, you are no longer the queen on the chessboard. You are a pawn and thus have to play a pawn’s game, well for now. 

You owe no one an impression, you owe no one class or a certain kind of lifestyle, it's just you, the grind, and the slow journey of scaling up. 

You always had a loaded fridge, your bank account was obese. You always had whatever you wanted to your fill. Now you don’t. It is part of the journey. 

Once you understand that times are different, things have changed and status has changed, it will mark the end of garnering debts just to put up showy appearances. You can downscale, it is alright. 

Debts and con games are the banes of men and women plagued by status syndrome.

Read Also: How the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is Harming Your Financial Goals

3. There is always something to do

She is an HR major, her little sister is an economist. Both have been out of school for a couple of years, and no formal gigs are coming their way but they have never lacked anything to do. 

They tell me that in Nairobi, one cannot get out of the house and come back without having done a job for someone even if it pays Ksh50, there is always something to do for anyone willing to work. 

During this time, they have sold vegetables, started a baking company, and as I speak they run a cleaning company whereby they do the cleaning. 

Have an open mind, as long as the means are legitimate, money is money. Do not be a respecter of hustles. 

You reap what you sow, literally. 

Read Also: 5 Shunned Jobs Where Kenyans Make Good Money

4. Learn a Skill

Depression half the time is a lot of time with nothing to do - in my opinion. It takes 21 days to cultivate a habit and it is never too late to pick up healthy indulgence. 

Pick an instrument, learn a craft, or invest time in learning a means to an end. It always pays. 

Nevertheless, know that skill and talent are of little relevance but effort and consistency are the main game changers.

Read Also: 10 Most In-demand Skills for 2023

Avoiding the Crunch

From my experience, a crisis is always a timebomb ticking. It is a canopy that capsules all, a bird with a wide berth of a wingspan.  

Savings are criminally underrated. What they offer is a cushion for rainy days and heaven knows we have more than enough of those, a saving habit is one of the safest cushions for rough days, and what it does is provide a soft landing for rough jumps.

Have a financial plan which is slang for a financial budget. Financial times morph like the colour pigments on a chameleon's skin. It is a reprieve when they find you prepared.

Read Also: 7 Places You Can Find Money to Save Every Month

Where grass has grown, grass will always grow. It takes a little painstaking patience and an understanding that time flexes itself. Prior preparation, no?