Motivated newbie saying hi

[JoannaC]

Just wanted to say ho and introduce myself I found this blog/forum via Lifehacker. I am 29 and coming off a bit of a life transition. I did a graduate degree overseas last year and have had a bit of a time being back in North America and getting established in my new career. I am on a positive track right now, starting to make some contacts etc. and have a very junior contract position right now. I am going to be taking a summer course to upgrade my qualifications some and hopefully get a permanent contract from that.

I have a lot of areas in my life that I want/need to work on, and it can feel a little overwhelming at times. I am trying to just go one step at a time and focus on taking actions, even small ones, each day toward my top three goals. Currently, these goals are:

1) Get back into a fitness routine. I have had some major stresses in the past year and a bit, and I did not respond to them well. I need to get back into some healthy habits and get fit again. I collect exercise videos and enjoy using them as a hobby. In the past, I have gotten too elaborate with setting up rotations and not following them, so my current plan is just to focus on doing one workout---any workout---each day.

2) Become fully bilingual (i.e. get my French completely fluent). I have always thought this was a worthy goal, but I have come to realize that achieving it will vastly improve my chances of landing a permanent contract (I am a teacher). I would say I am 90% there as I have an aptitude with languages and took it all through school, but it is that last 10% that is the hardest---just integrating all the little bits of information and vocabulary and knowledge until it is automatic.I had written up all sorts of plans for this and it was just too much, so like the fitness goal, I am just focusing on doing something, anything, every day.

3) Pay off my credit card and student loan. This is a hard one. I always thought people with credit card debt were irresponsible, but I was not. I got mine with some expenses associated with going back to school---certification fees once I completed the program, plus an expensive plane ticket home. I am living in a great apartment right now that is huge, all-inclusive (internet, cable, utilities) and really, really inexpesnive---can't do housing here for much cheaper. I am trying to curb fast food/dvd rental/impulse buys and pick up some extra money when I can with babysitting and other part-time things.

I also have some other things, for example, I know stress management is a problem for me and at some point, I want to talk to a counsellor about that. But right now, I have gotten into a nice routine at work where everythingis going well, and I would rather keep the money and re-examine this issue later when I have a better job and can afford to seek proper help. Also, I want to join a good on-line dating service and find a good relationship. But those are tier 2 priorities right now

I must say, adulthood has been quite stressful and not all that fun so far. It is hard to manage out there in the big city My mom still slips me money when I go for dinner, and at my age, that is a little embarassing. But I am trying to do the right things, and I hope the universe will reward my initiative One thing at a time, right?

So, that's me. Off to go read more forum posts!

[MSC2471]

Great to see you on here. I hope you are enjoying meeting all the people on this forum and all the great discussion that takes place. Sounds like you have your priorities in order and tackling your 3 major goals a step at a time. I know personally when it came to paying off my college loans I loved working as a teacher at a private school. Since I lived on campus rent free (one of the perks of working for the school) and not having many outside bills to pay for (just phone and cable essentially), I was able to make double payments on my college loans and get them paid off 5 years early. So if you can set aside money and make payments 2 times a month you'll have a lot of the money going towards the principle and not pay as much interest.

And when it comes to relationships, I've found that when I least expected it things fell into place. Within the same year I bought my first new car and had a really good job I met my wife online- but I was 28 at the time that I met her, and we married when I was 30.

Matt