At a crossroads...

I feel I am at a crossroads, at this point in my life.

Something on my mind these days is "work". Right now, I am some how back to working part-time. A job that I once relied on to make money and pay my bills, feels like now I am hanging on by a thread, I have one foot in and one foot out the door.

Two years ago, I was working part-time, at a different job, when I had freshly moved in with my partner, however, it was not a sustaining salary, so I found a new job full-time that has now landed me part-time. I am not about to repeat the same mistake, I'm all about learning and growing.

Let me explain.

At the start of 2022, I was working part-time at a restaurant job I've held onto for 5 years during my undergrad. Here are the reasons why I hadn't quit - feel free to read my other article here:

And then it was January 2022, and I was at a crossroads.

I was at times hopeless, and depressed (because it was winter), frustrated, yet, also remained hopeful that something better was coming. That was the line that kept me going "Something better is coming", I would write it in my journal, every morning, every night.

At that point, I was desperate for anything. I applied everyday for a month or two to about 4-5 different jobs. Maybe desperate wasn’t the word, but I was sure as hell, faithful on finding something better than a part-time restaurant job that was not at the time, able to pay my bills.

So, one day I saw this job opening for a dance instructor and customer service position for a dance studio franchise, that I had not heard of, but hey, why not try? I landed an interview and bam, I got offered some free training, to see if I'd be a good fit. It was dance styles I hadn’t done or heard of in depth…and because of my lack of experience, I was offered another position, as a front desk receptionist, and later on, I was going to be trained as a dance instructor. All was well and good and I was riding the motions, until I realized midway through even later down that year, that it was stressful as fuck. I tried to get out of it and expressed my stress, but I chose to stay till the end of that year.

2023 rolls around, and I end up teaching more and more and more. Which is what I wanted to do in the first place. This led to the point where maintaining the desk and teaching became more stressful. September 2023 came and once again, with tears this time in my eyes, expressed how stressful this part of the job was. Immediately, action was taken. There were new trainees who came in and tried the desk part of the job to the point where I was slowly moving off it and someone took my place at the desk. The relief I felt was unreal.

So now November rolls around, and because of the slowness of the season, the business is slowing down, to the point where my hours have been cut. There weren't enough students for me to teach, and my schedule was empty, compared to the summer time (June-August). So now, instead of full-time, I’m part-time.

How do I feel?

I do feel bummed that it's my "reality", but at the same time, this is actually what I have been asking the universe for pretty much all year. I wanted less of this work, and I got it. Now I go in the evenings for 4 hours and come back. Half days instead of full days.

My days have opened up allowing me to explore possibilities of new work. This includes what I did not have ‘time’ for throughout the year, which is art, dancing on my own terms, writing on my terms, and finding a way to make money off it (thank you to those who read, I appreciate you all!).

I am excited to look for new ways to make money. I advised in one of my other articles to be open to multiple ways of making money because as an Uber driver had once told me, "no jobs are secure". It's best to have multiple ways to have money coming in. And with today's day and age, anything is possible, to the point where you don’t have leave your house to make money. And that's my desire.

I desire to write and keep writing, drawing, practicing my skills, doing things I did not have the time for, manifesting, meditating, decluttering my home and reorganizing. I know it sounds like a lot, but mind you, I am not doing it all at once, I am scheduling it in my day planner. I am keeping my head above water and trying my best to stay grateful for all I have. It's not easy, but it's somewhere to start.

I trust that a creative (remote) job that allows me to make a killing is on it's way soon!

Thank you for reading and happy exploring! :)