What is worse: Long Term Unemployment or Divorce?
Yes, I know, there are many things in life that are bad, horrible, and there IS something always worse in one's personal life, but still, either of these two topics are among them. Both are major blows to one's life, each causing stress and angst that is hard to describe to those who have never experienced either. But, what if, a person (and I am sure there are some) is going through both simultaneously? Call it it the "shaft" or "Double whammy" but on the face of it, which is worse than the other?
Divorce can be a horror starting from the moment one party demands the other move out. from that point on, anything goes and there are many avenues it can go down - some predictable others expectant. If real estate, money and kids are involved, it can become a web of venom between the two persons. Sometimes, it is hard to believe that they loved one another or slept together. The once trusty relationship has now become a to and fro of maneuvers soaked in deceit or uncooperative positions. Lawyers tend to make it all worse under the guise of "the best for their client", while true, it can be more destructive than necessary. Simple divorces fair much better in the realm of salvaging a relationship with the Ex. That is usually because there is not much worth fighting over.
Long term unemployment is equally devastating to one's worth and self, especially when it lasts over a year and more. No matter how much one tries to explain circumstances in an interview, it mostly fall s on deaf ears with little empathy. The person's skills get rusty or obsolete, they run out of funds or savings, if married, it can make the marriage fail. If that occurs, how much more bad can life get? Well, it can. Being long term unemployed also creates isolation from the general workforce, which can damage the self ego tremendously. But, perhaps the worse is no income and after a year or more (except for unemployment) puts most into a panic mode.
Because of this last reason, I think being one of the long term unemployed would be the worse of two evils. It is not to minimize a divorce, but depending on its circumstances, at least a person with employment still has self worth, income, and less loneliness.