Stop Drowning, Start Living
During this time of uncertainty, its hard to have a positive outlook on the future. Trust me when I say that you are not alone. Over 31 million who can claim unemployment which does not include the ones who have yet to be able to get any benefits at all. I find myself, at least once a week, starting to spiral into an abyss of self doubt, anger, and frustration. I feel like we need to take this time to look over our money/work/life balance.
I think now more than ever that everyone is realizing that you need multiple streams of income along with how much we crave social interaction. This is a great time for self reflection. Trying to figure out who you are as a person and pursueing passions.
First Step: Money….
We need to look at what money means to us. I would recommend looking at your spending for one month and start doing it at least once a month. This is a great way to start a habit of looking over your fnancials. Look and see how much you spend where and why. I know that when I was making, what I thought, was a lot of money that I would just start buying the most random things. I found www.thebudgetmom.com back in March 2020 right after I got laid off. I recommend doing her Budget Blueprint Course. IT’S FREE!!!! I am almost debt free while in a pandemic with money in savings also. Which I never thought I would be debt free in like 5 years.
Step Two: Starting a side Hustle with Passion
When your are working 40+ hour weeks, cooking, cleaning, and exhausted, it’s hard to even think of starting another job. I know when I got laid off I was working 80 hours at one job and then I had three side hustles. Well COVID not only destroyed my main job, but all my jobs. Im a workaholic to put lightly. Just stopping work all together made me crazy at first. Then I started to do things I was passionate about like painting, gardening, reading, and learning about crystals. Plus, I love helping people by talking, writing, or even sending a smiley face to make someone smile.
I decided to start a side hustle helping people in multiple ways. I am currently opening up a crystal store to help others metaphysically and spiritually. I started writing to help others through a book I am writing. Then I am in the process of doing a YouTube channel that will be about self love, health, and possible weekly movie and tv show review. I was a theatre major in college and I have worked on some tv shows and movies.
Find what makes you happy and try to pursue something that you are passionate about as a side hustle. Maybe one day you could make it a career! Can you imagine a job that you actually love and wanting to work hard for? You can? Good. NOW DO IT!!
Step Three: Challenge Yourself
I currently decided to challenge myself to an hour cycling session everyday. So far I am 6/6! Challenge yourself in a healthy way. Exercising, reading, or even making the bed. Once you complete a month, it will hopefully become a habit you will start doing naturally. Start a new one to challenge yourself even more!
I believe if you start doing at least one of these steps you will start to feel an immense amount of weight fall off your shoulders. You will start to feel like you are swimming your way back to the top. Start living again.