Getting Back on My Feet

Life has its moments. Life's line does not always move in a straight line—more often, it goes in a squiggly line.

My life's line went way out of control. Life took a turn for the worse and went way downward.

I remember when my life was good. I had a house in Pennsylvania, had good income between my job and renting a room on Airbnb (actually, the Airbnb brought in more money than my job). I went horseback riding every weekend, and road tripped once a month.

Unfortunately, things changed—and not for the better. Circumstances beyond my control made me have to give up the Airbnb. My job income alone wasn't enough to keep up with the expenses on my home. My job was also not the highest paying, with 13 years and no advancement, and barely above the low-income threshold.

So I made the choice to leave my job and leave the house. I put the house up for sale but the real estate market where I lived was poor, so I had no success selling the house. Therefore, it went into foreclosure.

I took the leap. I packed up my car with some clothes and a few personal items. I sold off about all my furniture to collect some relocation assistance funds. I decided to move south to North Carolina.

Since I am making a fresh start, I thought it was best to be near a large city, which is Charlotte. I thought there would be many job opportunities, plus I could make some money driving for Uber and Lyft.

I drove for Uber and Lyft and worked temporary jobs through an agency. I was able to pay rent when renting a room in someone's home along with buy food, keep my car gassed up, and pay my cell phone bill.

I'd been in contact with a friend in India whom I have known for some time. We talked about getting a business going. We thought about a business specializing in horsemanship clothing under our own brand name.

After coming up with the brand name and getting it registered, I sent some of my earnings to him so he could buy materials to make the jackets. These jackets are worn in horse shows for Western events.

I am an active horseback rider and I was in show jumping events when I was younger. Because I always rode English style, selling Western clothing would be a good new experience for me.

So we got started—my friend in India is making the jackets and successfully selling them online, at a healthy profit margin. As this continues, our business will grow.

Now I am on the road to recovery—both mentally and financially.