Enjoy the Opportunity

now that you've had the chance to experiment with the Wallow and Despair version of life, let's look at the other side of the coin.

Opportunity for Creativity

when you have no job, or are on a very low income yeah it's going to be hard. you won't be able to afford the stuff you're used to doing and having. like cable tv or eating out and you won't necessarily have a set schedule. but think of it this way: most people go through their entire adult lives wishing they had the freedom to be creative that you have right now. when all of your usual entertainment options are cut off you have to come up with ways of filling your time, creative ways of doing the same things for less money. believe me it can be a pretty interesting game! this is your opportunity to really think outside the box, or paycheck, if you will. 

Opportunity to Focus on Relationships

probably the most important thing about being poor is DON'T SHUT PEOPLE OUT. notice that all the stuff in the Wallow and Despair section were solo activities. instead of focusing on your busy agenda (which you no longer have) or your stuff (which you might want to think about selling soon so you can get some dough) or activities (where spending time with friends means sitting next to each other for 2 hours while watching a movie) why not spend time having actual memorable conversations with people and getting to know them. the best way to stop feeling sorry for yourself and enjoy life is to be with people who care about you. even the experts will tell you that having healthy relationships, not just a healthy bank account, is what makes people happy and fulfilled in their lives. 

Opportunity for a Healthy Lifestyle

for everyone who always wanted to Go Green or eat "natural" here is your chance. turn off the lights when you leave a room, take shorter showers (oh yeah, in this version of your life, you bathe more often) figure out what you can reuse. and while i don't recommend shopping at natural or organic food stores while on a tight budget (let's face it, you have to have green to live Green) (sidenote: i'm starting to think that "green" isn't a word anymore from typing it so much) but you can stop buying that frozen stuff, full of bad things that harm your system and are WAY more expensive, and instead buy less expensive, somewhat healthier options that will last longer. although, in this version of life you have to learn to cook or at least make a sandwich. 

Opportunity for Discovering New (and Old) Alternatives:

this is where the game kicks in: how can i enjoy the things i had before i was broke while i don't have any money. stealing, credit cards, and loans are illegal moves in this game. it involves rethinking some of your favorite pastimes and remembering old ones.  it's can actually be fun, connect you with people, and will save you money. in my next post, i'll share some of the ideas i've found!

Opportunity for Generosity

nothing will make you feel poorer than having nothing to give. if, when you're broke, you find yourself hoarding all your money and counting it day by day as you watch it deplete you will wear yourself out and your soul will shrivel up into a teeny-tiny dry shell. i'm not kidding about the soul part. one of my favorite things about being poor is finding ways to give. and yeah i could just mean time and love and a smile to those who need it. but i also really do mean money. it doesn't have to be much. but when you see someone or know someone who has even less than you, give them something. even if it's just 1 dollar, or five. don't give everything away, that's just stupid, but give what you can. not only will you make yourself feel better but you will make a difference, albeit a small one, in someone else's life. 

maybe you can't help poverty being the state of your wallet but you can keep it from becoming the state of your heart. that is really how to be, or not to be poor. 

 

(How) To Be or Not To Be (Poor) part 1

so i did it. last december i graduated from college. consequently i thought it would be a great idea to do the following: travel abroad for a month and get a temporary job in a field unrelated to my degree just to see what it was like (and to save money for an apartment). in my head, it made perfect sense. i felt very free and young and even in a small way bohemian (though let's face it, every middle class college grad wants to go abroad. it's the expected thing, and we do it, not because our parents want us to or because society demands it, but because we crave the experience of far off places, the stories and bragging rights we'll come back with, the knowledge that we have been a part of the world and are more of the world than our local peers. oh the differentness of us.) unfortunately for me, when i returned from my trip my bank account was severely damaged. and then the temp job part of the plan kind of fell through. i mean, i did find one, but (props to the economy) i got less than 10 hours almost every week. so if you want the honest truth, i've been living on less than 200 dollars a month for almost the entire semester.

of course there are 2 major factors that have helped me to survive. number 1, my parents are amazing wonderful, generous people who paid for college and refused to let me take out any student loans. so i don't have any major debt to worry about. number 2, i live with a friend in a house her parents own and her dad won't let me pay rent or help with utilities. so thanks to the graciousness of others i haven't had to worry about a lot of things. 

to those who now hate me, please understand that i'm not bragging, i'm only trying to explain how i am able to live on so little. but believe me, even without those burdens, living without money has been very challenging and i've gone about it both the right and wrong way. that's what this post is really about. all the stuff you just read is background information.

if you find yourself broke and unable to remedy the situation immediately, you have 2 options: Wallow and Despair or Enjoy the Opportunity. i've done both.  no matter which one you go with, here are a few tips to  help you along the way. note: it's more fun if you read it aloud with a very cheery, upbeat voice.

Wallow and Despair:

1. isolate yourself from friends don't tell them your situation and don't go out with them anymore. you can't afford to eat out, shop, or go to movies anyway. 

2. stay up all night and sleep all day. if you are jobless or only work part time what's the good of being awake with nothing to do? and since you're not recieving visitors or going out either, back off the personal hygene as well. bathing, grooming and brushing teeth are for people with lives.

3. don't spend money on anything that isn't absolutely necessary. that means if it's not food for you or gas for your car don't even think about it. eating out falls under this category as does unnecessary driving.

4. since you can't travel, why leave your house at all? wearing your pjs all day will prolong the life of your other clothes. don't go outside unless you are going to the grocery store or your job.

5. spend hours alone thinking of all your troubles. you didn't see it coming, you can't do anything about it and you're pretty much screwed for the foreseeable future. 

i'll write more soon about option 2: Enjoy the Opportunity. until then, cheers!

so here's the deal, first off i should start by saying that the chances of my using proper capitalization are pretty low. it's not that i consider myself to be e.e. cummings, i'm just like it better this way. i promise though that i am meticulous about spelling, grammar, punctuation etc. in fact, i'm such a nerd, i will most likely read every post about 5 times, reworking it until i like it before posting. 

secondly, i'm not entirely sure what i'm going to write about. the good news: i figured out my title, tag line, and about me section in less than 5 minutes, which sounds promising. we'll see if the rest of my rants end up being as successful. 

thirdly, why am i doing this? because i've spend my entire life dreaming about who i'll be one day. well today is here and i'm not her yet. don't get me wrong i love my life. but i don't think i'm living it to the fullest. Mr. Keating, Ghandi,  and Jesus would all tell me that i have more to give and to live than what i'm currently living/giving. 

which beings me to my last idea, what direction am i heading?

i haven't the faintest idea. but i think it's somewhere along the lines of being happy, tapping into the creative, loving life and people, changing my mind, trying new things, and accumulating my life along the way. 

it feels like the first post on a blog is like the first entry in a new notebook. i love school supplies and notebooks are some of my favorite things. a new notebook is a new possibility, pages waiting to be filled with your words, from your pen, from you fingers, from your heart. but usually i leave the notebook lying around. i love it for it's possibilities, i avoid it for the same reason. if i don't mar it's lines with my messy handwriting (another perk of blogging, you don't have to hate my handwriting as much as i do, you just have to put up with no Capitalization) then it remains perfect. but i think that if you try to keep an opportunity the way it is (just an opportunity) then it ceases to be itself and instead becomes something sad, just another regret. i don't want to get to the end of my life and think "i should have filled that notebook, i should have memories instead of dreams". when you seize an opportunity you create an experience. that is the experiment.