Perhaps you liked Michael Moore's Sicko ... or maybe you had an issue with the way he seemed to contrive situations. Regardless, one has to admit it was a compelling story. If you would like to see a more measured and journalistic approach, check out the Frontline Documentary Sick Around the World by T.R. Reid who uses his many years as an International Correspondent to produce a far more compelling indictment of the US healthcare system by comparing it to the the systems of 5 capitalist countries, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan (ROC.)

Watch here.

Jan. 23, 2009 Which Way to Universal Healthcare?
˜The reason healthcare in this country costs so much more than in any other country is because we're the only country that treats healthcare as a commodity.  Ezra Klein interviews two leading reformers who take on the US Universal Healthcare debate.

Hiking is a very therapeutic activity. It works the heart, other muscles and lungs and is good for your soul. It's more than the exercise that lowers your blood pressure and makes you feel good.  Fresh air and spectacular scenery help feed the soul. The trails of the Sangre de Cristos abve Santa Fe New Mexico are such sould food. People pay serious money to get the views and trails that are a few minutes from my house.  Santa Fe is in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristos mountains which have easy skiing, snowshoeing and walking and bike trails, many easy to navigate and many with spectacular views. The trails exercise your body and the views and silence feed the soul. If you live close by, or happen to pass by Santa Fe check these out. All are relatively easy to moderate trails of 3 -9 miles.

A risky behavior we exhibit after being laid off is to become your computer's best friend, closeting ourselves away at home sucking down coffee, rewriting the resume for the umpteenth time, surfing every possible job site and generally becoming a hermit.

I think there are 2 reasons for this behavior.

One, clearly we have to find a job to pay the bills. No question there, but its not a 24 hour activity.  One needs to put structure and  organization  into a job hunt. More on that in a  later post.

Two, we are  embarrassed  and self conscious about  being  laid off. We link our sense of self worth so much to our  paying  job  that  when we lose it we can easily become depressed and show avoidance behavior.   I  found  out the hard way that one needs to keep in contact with friends, make new ones. Get out and  socialize. This might seem obvious but we do need to be reminded that we are social  beings  and need to  socialize  to  maintain  our overall  health.  The  silver  lining  on  the  current economic situation is that little stigma is going to be attached to  being  out of work AND  staying  out of work for a while. We have lots of friends in  the  same situation. You might even find that many of your  working  friends are almost as scared as you are. They are probably only a paycheck or two away from  joining  you. In addition get out  there  and be with people. Spend $4 on that soy latte. Don't feel guilty about it. Consider  the  cafe as a networking opportunity. Hey it might even be tax deductible.  A case in point I was  supping  on a mocha  the  other day tapping  at the  laptop  and I got into a chat with  someone  next to me. They were in the same situation as me.  The  net of it was at least I made a new friend, we compared notes and commiserated to  some  extent. Quite therapeutic  really. BUT, I made a new business  contact  with a  possibility  to do some short term consulting. Cash is good right? AND who knows where that leads. Degrees of  separation  and all that. I make it a point if I need to surf, write, whatever, to go to my fave cafe, or find a new one. In fact this has become so normal for me I feel guilty writing this at home.

Of course there are lots of other ways to socialize. Just get out there with other people. Who knows what might happen Someone might even have that perfect job for you.

The conclusion to me is more  important  than undertaking an arduous and stressful job search is to take care of yourself mentally.  Socialize, stay connected with people, always maintain an upbeat attitude. Its great training for those interviews to come as well.