You will miss the days when you had power over inconsequential things. When you could pursue mediocrity and unhappiness with minimal effort. Some days you'll miss it, anyway. There was a sense of ease, then. Of immediate satisfaction. You gave up the right to receive money every two weeks and have the illusion of freedom for a couple of days. Walk out your apartment at 4 A.M and buy a cheeseburger at your local grease pit, just because you can. That sort of thing.
It doesn't seem like much, but it's going to drive you mad a first. Because you can't go back to it. You didn't want to in the first place, but unless you beg your old employer for your job back, no place will welcome you with arms wide opened like it's a goddamned Creed song. Finding another life is going to take time, so use it. Long, unscheduled periods of time have become a valuable resource in our day and age. You may not trade them for immediate money, but you can maximize your chances to get somewhere.
Understand something. By seeking a better fate, you have surrendered absolute control on your life. You will likely be imbuing several people (some horribly incompetent) with life-of-death powers over your immediate professional future. Once it's understood and accepted, it's easier to move forward and discern better what you can control, what you can't and the best possible course of action to take. You're not the master of your fate anymore, but you're still the master of you.
No matter how hard you wish, you won't receive an ideal job offer because you wished it. So breaking your skull against the door is useless. A more methodical, better structured approach will yield better results. The job market is a finite resource and you'll run through it ineffectively if you keep applying on everything and nothing like a desperate madman. Give yourself a time period during the day, a maximum amount of submissions and make sure you control every possible variable: the tone of your cover letter, your knowledge of the company, the validity of your resume, the job-related keywords (more on that in another letter), the person to contact to give you best possible chances (the boss usually works well), everything. Contact places you really want to work for too (Josie's advice), no matter what position they have to offer. Don't underestimate the power of just a pure resume presentation. That's how I got my job.
Everyday, give your everything during that set period of time (mine was four hours, from 9 A.M to 1 P.M). But when the buzzer rings, step outside your office and go take care of your other life-of-death mission: trying not to lose your mind. Going unemployed is the worst possible timing to retract from society. Surround yourself. Maybe your friends can't give you a job, but they can take a load off your mind. I'm lucky enough to be with a person who is an extraordinary caregiver, who never peeped word about money and never made it into an obstacle between us. Not all of your are blessed with the same luck, but almost all of you have friends. If they ARE friends, it's time to turn to them.
Finding work is going to take time, because it depends on several variables you can't control. Let go of the wheel and focus on what you can help: you. You can't control employers. You can't control the job market. You sure-shit can't control the fluctuating abstraction that is offer-and-demand. So relax and keep that in mind: you have to make yourself a wanted commodity. Nobody wants a cracked out, desperate maniac who peddles superlatives like a dope pusher. Maturity, philosophy and perspective, on the other hand are attractive to businesses and work environments. Surrender absolute control, it's not worth losing north over.