This is my first day of being redundant. i have done all those little jobs around the house I have been putting off. I have contacted a few selected recruitment agents who say they will get back to me over the next few days. I don’t have any urgent appointments of deadlines to meet so I was going to go for a ride up the woods.

First time for 20 years where I have no work worries and I am a bit bored really. I guess I am used to a reasonable amount of stress and was wondering what I should do to wean myself it.

Suggestions (serious or otherwise) of how to introduce some stress inot my life.

Ride your bike? Build some more led lights?

You need to do some swimming! See you in about 2 hours

Build some more trails and worry about them being found and trashed before you get to ride them, that can give you nightmares and sleepless nights 😉

Plan a robbery, carry it out then sit sweating until you’re caught. That should add some stress 😉

Rich – I am just heading up the woods. Ring when you get home iand i will head out the woods then

Oh yes……. get a boat in the volvo race game and try and sail through the doldrums with the wind not doing anything as predicted…….. that’s real stress 😉

No serious suggestions I’m afraid other than you can come and have some of my stress!
I have my own small business and found out yesterday that my bread and butter client of the past 7 years has been bought out and our services (document scanning/imaging) are no longer required. We’re an easy target at the moment and most potential clients are putting projects that would involve us on hold for a while.
I thought we might just squeak through the tough times, but now I’m not sure 🙁

Having been off on the sick for nearly the past 2 years, I am finally being made redundant Friday.
Best advice I can offer is start each week with a new “to do” list and cross tasks off as you acheive them. Also when I wake up each morning I find it helps to plan my day.
Having come from a stressful job and a sressful industry, it was very difficult at first to make the change.
It has also enabled me to increase my riding, which has benefited my health no end.
You just need to think of it as a positive change.

Project Mayhem.

Its not stress that you need its challenges/motivation to keep you getting up in the morning etc.

To keep you busy I recommend planning/preparing for two on or off bike challenges this year. Start your speeded up preperation now. It’ll keep you busy (and worried!)

If you want stress / worry, then how about this.

10 minutes before Mrs WCA is due home from work / whatever, get dressed in her undies and sit downstairs. When you hear her approaching the front door race upstairs and try to get changed before she finds you*

*unless of course you’re into that sort of thing anyway…..

Or, for even more stress, take peidi’s idea that step further, and get your male next door neighbour and you to dress up in your wifes underwear with you on the sofa, and try and stop her finding you both.

Take up golf

Train. Become an Elite racer. That’s what I’d do.

Work seems to be getting right in the way now. Where d’you live anyway?

enter a triathlon or duathlon that will give you something to train for.
How about studying something new? either that would assist job wise or just that you have always fancied!??? Charity or voluntary work? Go abroad and work for someone doing something cool! Don’t know about your commitments just a few suggestions!

Why not organise a mountain biking festival type event, with races, prizes and beer, in somewhere like, ooh, I dunno, the New Forest?

What would I do? Surf Pron all day, eat fast food, have a break then back onto surfing Pron into the late evening.

Build a model railway or learn to play the trumpet.

If I was redundant I would have all the stress I would ever need thinking about how to pay the mortgage.

Design and build some drop-bar hydraulic brake levers for cyclocross/touring etc.. no-one else makes any.

Buy an X-Box and Pro Evo. Set difficulty to regular, pick any team and try and win the Champions League without saving the game at any point.

That will both build up stress and whittle away the hours…

come up and give me a hand fixing out my house. I’ll give you tight timelines and be on your case every hour for updates.

I could do with someone to tile our bathrooms.

Start masterbating in public places where there is a real chance you could get caught, that should introduce a little heart quickening.

When I had a “break” last year of six months or so, I cycled to places I have never been before:-
A tour of all the local libraries to check out “quiet” talent.
I made a plan to bike all the lanes in 10 mile radius.
Cycle to “sign on” and see people you dont normally see.
Off road is shit in my area so road stuff got me fit and yes plan some epics.
Main thing, like me last year, its Spring, GET OUT dont stay in the house even if you just sit on the park bench and read Forum magazine!

Nick I’d go for a damn good holiday somewhere. Thats the best advice i have been given.

Get away for a couple of weeks. It gives you time to get the last job/leaving work thing out of your head, means you aren’t beating your self up which tends to happen in the first few weeks, you come back rested and relaxed and much more likely to accept the change. This also make you a much more promising prospect for any employer.

Been made redundant twice. First time I didn’t do this. After this advice the second time I did and got work almost straight away on my return.

Oh and read up on the personal change curve thing so you fully understand what states you are going through.

And come to Afan mountain biking this weekend 😀

buy a PS3 and a copy of COD5 and get online..

Start drinking from the moment you wake up, and continue steadily until you cannot stay concious any longer. Sleep and repeat. I predict that within weeks you will have started to effect some changes that bring some stress back into your life.

Those agencies ‘getting back to you’ are they? Aye nae stress… 😯

Main thing, like me last year, its Spring, GET OUT dont stay in the house even if you just sit on the park bench and read Forum magazine!

Best advice yet. Im a home worker and forcing myself outside for even an hour (even not on the bike) each day vastly improves your outlook.

Use the opportunity to grab yourself some top quality daytime TV.

Do some voluntary work, good for you, good for your CV, good for your community!

I’ve invented a new high stress extreme sport, its called “free tunneling”, its relatively inexpensive and failure can even save your loved ones money! it goes like this:

dig a tunnel but use no bracing, beginners start with easy soils like limestone or some such but experts can move on to corn, dried sharp sand or mercury!

to be honest mate, sounds like you need a downhill bike!

You’re bored after a day? Try two months!

Been using the time to make the garden immaculate, clean the house, sort through boxes of crap we keep moving from house to house, riding my road bike (alot) and clearing a deer track in my local woods that just so happens to have the kind of flow you find at trail centres.

Now i’m starting to get abit bored!

MrNutt – I am 83 ft in and thetunel behind has cllapsed. I am typoing this frommy phon. what netx?

What can you see (you did take a torch with you, didn’t you?)

You and Rich had a good session then Nick??!!

tunnel faster, breathe less!! exciting huh!!

You sure it isn’t just the soil you dug out ahead of you and you’ve simply put it behind you?

I which case he could be going round in circles like some Prometheus curse!