Agreed. If it really is for a stupid reason like OP said, then this feels like a simple “I was an idiot, got caught, and ended up having a rude (but necessary) awakening. Thankfully that’s all it was, and now I know not to do it again. It’s time for some changes.”
I’m in a similar boat. I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but it looks like some of the old D2 devs are now working on Darkhaven. It’s not out yet, but there’s hope!
For a chill puzzle game, I’ve been enjoying the water sort puzzle from Martin Kunze. I like that version specifically because there’s no ads, no monetization, no data collection, no login, no nothing. You just sort colored water until it stops being fun.
Valheim and Raft are both fun with two people. Raft’s a bit janky but more relaxed. Valheim can be relaxing or as hard as you want to make it (there are world settings you can change and plenty of mods), and although it’s technically still in early access there’s a ton of content.
Yeah… I replaced it with apple juice. (Sorry, but not really.) I’m told it’s good with the bourbon, but I didn’t have any and was assured by a relative that you can’t taste the difference if you swap the bourbon for apple juice.
If you try them both, let me know how it goes! I might give it a go one day just for fun, but I’m pleased with it as-is for now.
In no particular order:
A second opinion on your resume certainly couldn’t hurt. If money’s a concern, I think there’s a community on Reddit that allows you to submit your resume for review? Tread with caution, of course, but it could be worth a shot. Or I’ve seen people on LinkedIn or various job sites that help give back to their respective communities by providing resume feedback - I’d probably look for people in HR or who work as hiring managers.
That sucks about your business, but I think being honest about it is your best bet if/when it comes up. Businesses fail for a variety of reasons, plenty of which won’t necessarily reflect poorly on you. And if the gap is the last five years, well, there’s definitely been enough going on in that timeframe that you won’t be the only one with an employment gap.
Applying for jobs can often be a numbers game, but if you’re not reaching the interview stage at all you may want to have someone review your resume for you. It might be that you’re not highlighting your skills and experience in a way that the systems will pick up on - every industry seems to have it’s own buzzwords - or you might also have a resume format that the ATS can’t parse correctly.
You can cook chicken breasts in the oven without needing to brown them in a skillet first. I like to meal prep so I can just pull leftovers out of the freezer later, but if you want a single serving you can reduce accordingly:
The extra breasts freeze well, so you can simply reheat them with a bag of frozen veggies on nights when you don’t want to bother with the oven. I’ve also done the single servings of Bush’s baked beans as a side.