July Goal Update!

Goal: Train for and run the following races: Jaeger Run for Pride, Dash for Donation, Emerald City quarter marathon, and the half at the Columbus Marathon.
Status: Successfully ran the Jaeger Run for Pride.  Race recap is here.  I actually don’t know if I’ll get to the Dash for Donation because of my new work schedule.  I already registered for it, unfortunately.  We’ll see if I can work something out. I am also considering the 5 or 10k at the Giant Eagle MultiSport Festival, but I haven’t decided yet.

Goal: Strength train 3x a week.
Status: I win this time! I win! I officially went back to the gym a week ago today. So I was in Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  That’s four days of strength training, including one day with my trainer.  I also did cardio all of those days, sometimes once at the gym and a short run later in the day. I cannot tell you how awesome it is to be lifting heavy things again.  I started out light, but I am already making progress.  I am also more actively using Fitocracy… find me here.  I am still a little frustrated that I can’t log everything I do because they don’t list all of my exercises.  All of that is besides the point: GOAL ACCOMPLISHED, at least for this past week.

Goal: Write every day.
Status: Ugh. At least I’ve been reading more…

Goal: Read at least one book a month.
Status: I finished  Storm of Swords in record time.  The last A Song of Ice and Fire book took me forever to read.  It was like slogging through a nightmare of awful things happening.  This third book still had awful things (give up all hope for anyone you ever liked), but it went a lot faster. Once finishing that, I started The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I have seen part of the movie, but would like to read it before finishing the rest.  So far, so good.

Goal: Budget! Budget! Budget!
Status:  Because of my recent job changes, I have worked extra hard to stay on top of my budget. I didn’t do too badly in June, really.  I overdid it a little with the purchase of my new running shoes and some other miscellaneous clothing that I needed, but other than that, I have ended up in a pretty good spot.  If I made no income for July, I could still pay my bills and buy groceries, etc without dipping into my savings, so I think I’m not in bad shape at all.  Any income I make will be helpful and relieve stress, but at least I know I can do it regardless.

I will say also about budgeting that I think I have made a small breakthrough thanks to YNAB (who, by the way, came out with a new version that is AWESOME). I took another one of their free classes and it really got my brain on the right track, as in: look at the budget first. Thanks, YNAB!

Goal: Try something new once a month.
Status:  So for June, I quit my job.  I am coming up on the end of my two weeks of summer FUNemployment, which is a sad thing.  I am onto bigger and better things though, so I am super excited about that.

Goal: Gratitude.
Status: Did a little bit better. If you’ve been following my Twitter at all, you may have seen some #gratitudeproject tweets pop up.  I was especially grateful for my family and friends and all their support.  It has been really awesome.  I am going to continue with this goal since I think it’s been helping my outlook on life.

Goal: Actively work to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
Status: This links directly into gratitude, I think.  Since I’m starting a new job and starting school next month, I think that it’s time to get myself mentally prepared for the coming inevitable ups and downs.  I was so long in a bad situation that I need to make sure that I’m going into the new ones with a good attitude.

Here’s to July!

Something New: June – Quit Your Job

I had dedicated myself to updating the blog more this month and then my life went a little crazy. That crazy is my something new for the month.  I do not recommend trying this one for fun, only out of necessity.

On June 5th, I turned in my two weeks at my job.

I did not have another job lined up, though I had been to interviews.  I did not have much of a plan except maybe going back to school.  I knew approximately how long I could survive on what I had saved and all of that, but I didn’t have a back up plan and I didn’t have a lot of money.  If a cat got sick, I could be screwed.  If I ended up with a serious medical problem, I don’t know what I would do.  If I didn’t find a job in the reasonably near future, I would be in a very bad situation.

So why did I quit like that? For some time, my work environment is not one that I have found to be very supportive or developmental, among a myriad of other problems. A few specific situations arose and that was enough.  I hit my end point.  There are obviously a lot more specifics, but dirty laundry needs washed, not aired out in public.

I was excited to be done, but mostly terrified at first.  I hadn’t told my friends, family, or boyfriend what I did before I did it.  Hell, I didn’t know for sure I was doing it until the words were out of my mouth. I was scared to tell people at first.  You don’t just go making rash, irresponsible decisions and expect people to congratulate you.  But that’s kind of what happened.  There has not been one person that I have told even a small bit of the story to that has not said, “good for you!” in some way or another.  No one freaked out.  I didn’t get any lectures.  No one seemed worried.

My last day of work was the 19th.  I was offered a job on the 18th.  I officially registered for fall classes on the 20th.

R probably said it best: “maybe you just have to get out in order to move forward.”  I think he was right.  I can tell you that I have not been this happy in a long time.  I have  two weeks off between jobs and I have filled this first week with friends, cleaning my apartment, cats, and the gym.  Will my new job be better?  The grass is always greener, so who knows?  But it seems like a good deal so far.  I know that school will be wonderful and once it’s all said and done, I will have a master’s in a few years.  That’s not something I would have imagined saying even six months ago.

It is amazing to me how things fell neatly into place after I took the leap. So I guess if you can’t just up and quit your job, you should at least do what this is really about: make good life choices based on what you need. I wish that I had made this choice earlier so that I could have been better off sooner instead of wasting time.  One of my favorite comedians, Duncan Trussell, sometimes talks about vampires in your life, whether it’s friends or a situation like mine.  You have to get rid of the vampires. You’ll be much better off.  I already know I am.