"unemployed" is a bad word

whenever people ask me what am i doing now (as in what line am i in and what do i do for a living), i tell them without thinking twice that i am unemployed. and when they hear that, you can only conclude from their responses that they had made some assumptions about why you are unemployed and drew all sorts of conclusions as to how you are managing and surviving given your "unemployed" status. and more often than not, these assumptions and conclusions are totally wrong! 

from the many people that have asked me this question, their response may range from oh, i am sorry... or oh... and their words would just peter off to errr, (silence) hmmm, ok, errr... well, if you need money, i can lend you, but up to a certain amount. i think they simply do not know how to reply to such a straight forward reply from me. haha. sometimes, to prevent any awkwardness on their part, i would quickly add, oh i took time off to look after my mum, or i wanted to take a break... or something along these lines. interestingly, a couple of people reacted like as though i have done something super wrong and that as a result, i have been sacked. somehow, there is this social stigma about being unemployed here! even my mum. she sees unemployment as an embarrassment. and when people around the estate or in her rehabilitation center ask her, she would lie to them and say, he is on leave. of course, some people would politely tell me i should not use the term unemployed and offered alternate suggestions like "i am in between jobs". come on, people, there is nothing wrong being unemployed! let's call a spade a spade! 

in fact, to me, being unemployed is a choice. i decided that i want to stop working and i stopped. simple as that. even if it is temporarily. and there is no need to make all sorts of assumptions as to why i am unemployed. if you want to know the details, just ask. and for goodness sake, lay to rest thoughts like he is useless, he is incompetent, etc. and rather than see it as a negative thing, why don't you see it as wah! this person has balls of steel! he can and dare to take a break! he is really something! and yes, although my finances are tight, and i am careful with how i spend my money, and i am surviving alright. so there is no need to draw the conclusion that i am broke and would be going around borrowing money and expecting people to pity me! sighs.

ok, i shall stop here. i am simply ranting and realized i am going round and round... need time to organize my thoughts...