A Year of... in 2018

Changes
A new address (still in Orlando). Back in school (for a year). A car accident (not my fault), and so a new (used) car. New position and schedule at work. Financial struggles (tied to all the previous). Inconsistent internet access (largely by choice to save money).

Health
Sleep problems are still an issue, and the new work schedule, combined with school, isn’t helping. But it should be setting me up much better long term. I started seeing a therapist several months ago to address the depression, and it’s certainly helped - though the sleep issues often undermine the progress. Definitely a two steps forward and one or two steps back situation. Yoga has been great for me, but I’ve been more and more inconsistent with it the past several months because of schedule and money.

School
So, I’m back in school…though not in a way I had expected. In March, I started a year program in massage therapy, something I’ve always been interested in but had never really taken seriously. I decided to give it a shot, and I love it. I’ve actually missed the school atmosphere, and the people are great. It’s 4 hours a night Mon, Tues, Wed, and right now we’re in a stretch of about three months with a Friday night clinic, where we do three hour-long massages with public clients. I’ll finish the program at the end of February, and then I have to take the MBLEX to get licensed. We shall see how that goes, but I’m excited.

Location
I moved back in the spring, about two months after school started. It was in part because of school (I went from a 45 minute commute to school to a 20 minute one), but it was mostly about money. Last fall, a new management company came in and bought out the apartment complex and my new lease would’ve seen a significant increase in rent. Adding the monthly payment for school (they finance it for you themselves) would’ve made a rent increase impossible. So, after a couple of stressful months of searching, I settled for renting an older 1/1 duplex in a different part of Orlando. For one, it gets me closer to school. Second, it gets me away from the tourist areas where I used to live (and still work). It’s a longer commute to work, but since I go in so early (I work 4am-1pm) the traffic is negligible. I don’t know if I’ll stay once my year lease is up in mid-March, but we’ll see.

Money
My finances have been a mess this year. A lot of it comes from the extra expenses for school (monthly payment, and some supplies). Another factor is that when I moved, I had to pay rent on both places for two months because of the way the leases lined up. Plus, a week after I moved, I was in a car wreck. It wasn’t too serious (and not my fault), but it totaled my car. Since it was an older car, I didn’t get much money for it. So, that went toward buying a different car. The cost of the car combined with the double rents and the new payments for school wiped out my savings and cushion. And working in retail, I just don’t make enough to rebuild that cushion. It’s taking everything I have just to get bills paid (including some creative shuffling of bill deadlines). That’s been a huge struggle for me, but I’m doing the best I can to make it work. The hope is that I can make it work long enough to get through with school and then get a job that will significantly increase my income from what I currently make. I just have to make it that far.

Another thing is that I let my internet account lapse, so I don’t have WiFi or internet access at home (I haven’t for almost six months now). That limits my options for things like writing here, which is frustrating but necessary. Plus, it’s forced me off the internet a good bit (which is good, I think ) and caused me to get back to reading (definitely good).

Last updated November 04, 2018