In the meantime I have found myself with much more time than I am used to. I went straight from high school to my undergrad, after graduating I usually had at least two jobs at all times till the time I started grad school, I was also in a serious relationship through most of this time going into my first year of grad school, while in grad school I took summer classes and also worked through most of it. This past semester has by far been the most open due to the lack of work in the lab but with school I always had something to do. The past two weeks though I have worked in the lab but thats about it.
I apply to at least 7 jobs a day usually with more a few days a week (I found that Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually the busiest for companies to post job openings so those days I usually find more jobs to apply to) but overall I have little to do. Its actually been really tough to wake up and have nothing planned. I have never experienced this before.
While I do portray an ambiance of relaxation and a party like lifestyle those closest to me know that I actually keep busy with a simple rule of doing at least one thing a day, every day no matter where I am or what I'm doing. I also try to find a balance between work, self-improvement, and community involvement. The main community involvement I have found lately is taking the summer off and I just finished talking about my career search. That leaves self-improvement. I do have at least half a bookshelf of books that I have been collecting over the past few years to read once I had the time, well now is the time. I just began a book about ideas that help shape the future and how people have convinced the masses in the past to accept new ideas. I strongly believe that I need to keep up on the level of information I have received while in college, the only difference being now I can do it on my own following whatever rabbit trail of interests I may find.
This free time has helped me keep grounded some of the post-graduation dreams I did have. I originally wanted to graduate, get the perfect career, the huge rental home that would quickly become my first home to buy, find a good dog, and start my life. While each of these things is still important I am now seeing a more financially sound plan in place that allows each of these things, in time, but also allows them in a much more secure way. I now plan to stay at my current apartment which in all truthfulness is one of Central Florida's best neighborhoods, work two part time jobs till I find my career, even then attempting to keep at least one of these part time jobs, pay off some bills, put a little money away in savings. And then in a few years I will have the chance to go directly into buying a house instead of a endless plan of rentals.
There are no reasons to bring about an expensive life right now, for the past two years I have learned how to live cheaply cutting back dramatically on every bill in my life. I cut my cell phone bill in almost half (thank you T-Mobile!), my rent is now the cheapest I've ever had, my food budget is a quarter of what it used to be. This mixed with the opportunities my parents have helped me achieve a life that many 26 year olds only dream of. I have no credit card debit, no car payments, none of the debt that many of my friends are now facing. I do have school loans and the bills that you can't just easily pay off such as car insurance (which is actually very cheap now that I have no points on my license, live in a very very safe neighborhood, and turned 26).
The opportunities to stop and evaluate life that have been given to me with this free time has helped me see new paths that provide more of the financial security that I have been given in the past. I now must keep to this path, keep grounded, keep on the hunt, and in the end I will go further than I even imagined just a few weeks ago. I cant wait to see where this takes me!
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| Seen in the bathroom at Banana's Diner on Mills Ave (and no I didn't write that!) |
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