Taking Chances

Change brings us many opportunities. I'm being "nice" when I say this and consciously choosing to accept that the changes active in my life right now are opportunities rather than the pains-in-the-butt that they often feel like.

I was able to get enough work in October to make November happen. Now I am hoping that I can earn enough in November to make December happen...rinse & repeat. I am grateful for the abiding peace that says "things will be okay" which surrounds me each day. I do believe God has a purpose for my life and will guide me to the place I need to be in order to apply the things I've learned while I was earning my degree these past 2 1/2 years.

Provision has presented itself in several forms lately. I was approved for free health care through Volunteers In Medicine. They are a wonderful organization serving a significant number of people who would be without health care without their help. Since my income is sparse for now, I was able to get help for food with Oregon Trail. Grateful barely comes close to describing how I feel about these two sources of help right now. My friends have supported me with their love, friendship and humor. My Mom even helped me pay my car insurance last month, bless her. I didn't ask for help, she just decided to send me some money and it was exactly what I needed right when I needed it.

I now have a housemate who shares the rent and half of the utilities. That's been going fine so far. Makes all the difference with the financial landscape being a bit bleak right now.

I would hope that there is something useful, enjoyable and valuable that I will eventually find for work. With so many people looking for a job, it's an employer's market and they appear to be taking advantage of that, at least from what I can tell right now. It appears that if you can find a job making $10/hour you're doing really well. Wow. That's more than a third less than I was making before I was laid off in December of '08. Ouch. I was making more than $10/hr over 30 years ago! Wow.

My entrepreneurial spirit is saying "GO FOR IT!" and work for myself. My living expenses don't require a large amount of money to get by on, but school loans will eventually need to get paid back. I can start with earning enough to 'get by' and work towards building a clientele base that will hire me to do projects for them and hopefully recommend me to their associates and friends in the future. Do I pass up the torturous process of daily scouring through job postings and filling out numerous applications and gear up to start marketing myself and my multimedia skills instead? I'll still look at the postings, but I'm not going to keep applying for every job. Chances. Taking a chance has to be better than waiting for a temp service to call and offer a mediocre temp job at minimum wage plus a $1 or so.

The plan, at least for now, is to spend next week adding content and information to my website and I'll begin working on the two portfolio projects that I had to put on the back burner when I started working for the temp agency in early October. I'll continue networking with people who already know and trust me so they'll know what I'm doing and can feel comfortable recommending me.

Scary? You think? YES! But it feels like I just have to do it this way right now. I know I'd regret not having given it a real shot right now while it seems like the only reasonable thing for me to be doing.

Funny how the words Change and Chance are different by only one little letter, huh?