The Long Awaited New Blog

Hello, all. It's been a long, long time since I last post. I do apologize for such a long wait. I have been busy working and currently have a day off to write. Today, for my new blog, I want to come to something I have felt is commonly shared buy those of us in their still relatively early thirties: The type of work you are not willing to do for money.

Earlier this year, I lost my job of two years and it hurt me financially. I was used to making an X-amount of money every paycheck and I am no longer near that amount. I took a summer job at a race track. I liked it. I made good tips and I learned a lot about betting on horse and the types of bets. It gets confusing and I am still new to it all and if it were me I would say that it would take a great amount of time until I was even comfortable with grand bets of any sort. Still, working there was better than fast food. Don't get me wrong. It takes a lot to work at a fast food joint. You have to know OSHA's standards and you have to be great with people who are not only important to not accidentally give food poisoning to but to not piss off when you mess up their order. Still, this line of work you have to be at for a very long while to make ends meet with kids you are responsible for. Fast food is a great place for a young teen to start. Unless they get lucky and never have to worry about starting out as a productive member of society. A family business perhaps. As you get older and you haven't yet finished your higher education and you have kids and more bills than you can count, working at fast food is just not an option. It's low pay. When they talk about raising the minimum wage I always come to these low paying jobs where people may be working because it isn't always teens you find at these places. These are the places that could use some help. You may have a different view but it is what I think. Also, when you are older, this kind of work doesn't offer many skills beyond customer service and lower-end food handling. The kind you don't need a permit for (depending on your state of course) whereas you would more likely need one at a restaurant.

This year I worked at one, I repeat one fast food chain for one week. Because it was all I could stand and after my summer job ended, I needed a filler for a much more preferred job. I am not more in a field I have experience in: Sales, marketing, and merchandising. I work at a health food and supplement store. A well known one. While still requiring customer service skills, it requires experience with sales, marketing, and merchandising. Don't get the last two confused. They both require similar and different skills. This, being in my thirties, is something I am much more comfortable with as a job. Though it doesn't offer much pay, it's the skills you gain and maintain that I find more appealing.

I understand that sometimes things don't go this way. And that you may find your self working at a fast food chain just to bring in a check. It is what it is. But you know as well as I do, that a majority of people in their thirties want better work. Better pay. They have duties and responsibilities. They may have kids are still paying off their students loans. God knows those can take forever. They may be, for the time being (hopefully) the only working parent in the house and you can't just let both of you sit and do nothing.

This is my case. Though I would love to not be the only one working and would like to take a break from work for a while, I know it isn't something that is going to happen. I wont explain it here. I just know that while only in the first three years of my thirties, that fast food wont cut it and it isn't something I want to do. No offense to those who may still be in the fast food business, it's a bit degrading. You would have to be in the corporate side of the fast food business just to make a decent wage/salary to pay bills and to feed kids but again this take a few years to obtain.

If you are in your thirties, are there jobs you are willing, not willing to do to make ends meet? What are your limits or exceptions?

The 30's Crisis and the Success Conumdrum

First off, happy belated New Year to one and all. I hope your holidays were good and that anything that wasn't good was not as bad as it could have been. Feel blessed my fellow readers. Now on to the topic.

When we are young we are taught that success is material. That to be successful we have to get the best grades, we have to do sports and other activities, this and that and ever which way in between. We are told that we must be successful because being successful means material gain, monetary gain. what we aren't told, and few of us learn it along the way due to circumstances, is that true success is none of this. THIS is just the icing on the cake. Now, if you are religious and take to heart that living by the word brings rewards then you can incorporate that into what success is.

Not all of us was born with a silver spoon in our mouths nor did we have everything we ever wanted handed to us on a gold or silver platter. Like myself, who knows of the family secrets and honestly I am happy that they aren't resolved other wise I would not have any room to blog on the topic, I was not born into a prosperous home. My parents worked hard for what they had. Even after divorce. They worked hard because they had kids. This is something every parent should do. And not to say because they want their kids to have the life they never had because that is a form of pride that I can't stand. No, they do it to show their kids that success, true success come in the rewards they receive in the lives they touch. I was born with some health issues that I don't find to be too much of hindrance now. Though I may not have much happiness in my life and not much success in what I want to achieve, I hope my parents know that the success they achieved by the time they were in their thirties is what they instilled into their children as they were growing up. My brother and I learned that success is not material nor monetary. Yes, they are good to have but they aren't the end result of success. We were taught to work hard, study, we didn't have to get straight A's as long as they knew we were trying, and to at least go to college and have healthy productive lives. This to me is success.

My brother is a minimalist. He works for the US Government in the forestry division. He is paid well in his job that he has had for over ten years. I am very proud of him. But he wasn't successful until recently. Because to complete his life he wanted not to be alone. Though he is going through a lot right now and we lean on each other for support, this is what success for him is. To have a productive job and a healthy fulfilling love. He could care or less about what possessions he has. He knows that me makes fair money but he doesn't flaunt it. He owns his own small home and two cars. he travels during the summer and has made a difference, though small, in the lives of those who suffered from Katrina. So it is only right that for him to feel successful, he needs someone to share this with. I am glad to say he is inspiring this type of success in others. he doesn't feel so angry anymore.

For me, my success is yet to come. I try to work hard, though I don't like my job and it isn't were I want to be. I am staying with it just to keep up the faith. For me, I want my success to be in the form that I can provide for my kids in the best way possible. To be the best me I can be. Through health and happiness. As we discussed before. In light of the way I hope to achieve this, I too, will make a fair amount of money. Though I should have started this long ago to curb the struggles I have dealt with. Then again I don't think I would have appreciated the success as much if I hadn't learned a few things before hand. To complete my success I want to be rid of what holds me back and pains me. Just as any whole-hearted women may feel, it is hard to let this go because we have the best intentions at hand and yet we let those intentions for what ever it is, hurt us. Success and happiness go hand-in-hand. I am working on my success. i wont care about the amount of money or the things I can buy because they are just things. If I have learned anything about the times I was without a home, if you can live without it once, you can again. If it doesn't feed you, cloth you, or keep a roof over your head, you may not need it. Because your success isn't measured by what you have. It is what makes your truly happy and what leaves with a person whose life you touch.