Thinking About the Epic Money Misadventures on 9-5-17

Today and yesterday were my first couple of runs with handing out my business cards. Thanks to all my passengers who took them!

This morning when I was driving rush hour, I had just finished a brief job hunting session while sitting in the O'Hare tnp lot where you wait for a ride out of the airport, drove home some passengers who didn't speak much English, and thought about my job woes. The next passenger named Tim entered my car and said he had an IT job. I asked him what job he had and he said he was a systems analyst with a bunch of certifications. I would get some certifications, but definitely can't afford those right now let alone the infinite car maintenance I'm going to need. I ended up complaining about my job woes because I have been feeling very lost in regards to my career path and am stressed out about not making enough money/barely making it by. What I gained from the conversation besides trying to make myself feel better about my current situation is I should maybe make an appointment with a career counselor. The next passenger (group of passengers because it was a family and I talked to the husband) had just finished his military service and now works as border patrol. Back when I was in college, I had random thoughts of possibly joining the military, but was not informed enough of what the military truly entails and decided to put those thoughts on the shelf. Today, they were revisited because he told me being in the military can be a lucrative career, you get paid, you get tax breaks, health benefits, you have to be in good shape, and most of all, it would get me unstuck from this sticky money situation. I began feeling even more lost about my career misadventures and almost cried in front of him (luckily I was wearing sunglasses anyway). After my conversations with this kind man, I have decided I need WAY more information about the military if I even hypothetically want to join because I don't even know which branch I'd join. He did tell me the Air Force and the Navy are the most laid back. I've thought about the National Guard too, but I have no idea. This thought is going back on the shelf once again.

As the day progressed, I began spawning motivation from talking to my passengers. The very last passenger I had before ending my day was a ride to O'Hare for the fourth time and I began telling her about my rideshare storytelling blog. She made me realize how I need to take 5 minutes of my day to realize what I am thankful to have. For example, I made a pitstop at the River Road Rosemont McDonald's and saw a truck pull into the gas station with a flat tire and was thankful my car is in one functioning healthy piece. I am also thankful to have my health. She told me a story about how a lady she works with has a 2 year old son with a blood disorder where his blood doesn't produce white blood cells, had to have 2 stem cell transfusions, and has been in the hospital for 106 days straight. I'm thankful to have never been in the hospital in my adult life (or very much in general). I was then telling her about how some illnesses are induced by stress and I need to chill out and not let my stress win so I can stay healthy. I was telling her about my 2 most recent blog posts about passengers who I drove away from and laughed and how a drunk lady inspired me to stop focusing on money and bills all the time because I wouldn't ever be happy if I blew off people who really matter and to go see my parents. I will probably see them soon! Right before I dropped her off at the airport, she took a business card and went on her way.

After talking with this last lady, I decided I had driven enough and decided to go home and stay home. When I realized I had some extra time and was still pretty awake, I figured out the answer to my job woes is that I need to keep job hunting and find a job so I don't have to drive my poor grandma-aged car into the ground from rideshare driving and can have a steady paycheck again, thus, eliminating my monetary woes. When I finally had a moment to check my emails, one of the companies I applied to for a technical writer (which is the primary job I want) had responded to my application. Now is the time to solve the puzzle! Off to my job hunting ventures!