I Have a Domain!

Yay! I now own www.mydebtmarathon.com for my blog!! Check it and resubscribe! I’m still figuring out all the plug-ins that I’ll need. But it’s a step forward.

Many Options to Explore

In my last post I wrote about how I would love to go back to school for my doctorate degree. This is a goal of mine but at this point there is another plan. Setting up a graduate assistant position and enrolling into a doctorate program in one week would only have been doable if it was meant to be. But the GA position was already filled, so therefore I knew my answer.

Instead I’ll be following my original plan. I’ll be starting my school position tomorrow and I have an interview at an organization that offers tutoring services. I applied for two part-time positions with a local boys and girls club, but after further research online, I found the original posting was dated August 9th. Most likely, they have already filled the positions. But it’s still worth a try, right?

On Craigslist, I found an advertisement for an afterschool 1-1 assistant in my area. I applied to this as well, but I have yet to hear from the parents. I also called a Marketing Research Firm that was offering $75 for participating in a focus group about voting. I’m now on the call-waiting list if someone they scheduled cancels and they’ll keep my name on file for additional surveys. And, I responded to an ad for help cleaning a restaurant in my area once a month.

As recommended by so many bloggers, I need to pursue all sorts of opportunities to make extra money (well legal anyways). I wish the money was going towards debt instead of life, but eventually the skills I’m gaining in finding side hustles will help me when I am in debt payoff mode. I also need to re-contact a company that is offering $5 for reviewing their website.

I have officially started my second blog as well! I’ve already written three posts! I can’t wait until I actually have my domain for this site and I can truly build it into a successful side business. For One Million Bones, I created a flyer and sent emails to more people in my network. I have many more emails to send and I need to start my follow-up phonecalls. Once I’m settled into my school position, I’ll be able to plan better when I am available to execute programs for this project. My goal is to set up a district-wide program at the small city near where I live and implement it district-wide at the school district where I’ll be working part-time.

I have faith that all of these opportunities and connections will lead me to where I am supposed to be. I am attracting the right opportunities and people into my life!

How many jobs do you have?

What unexpected side hustles have you done to make extra money?

A New Path in the Road

A few days ago, I expressed my desire to shift the meaning of my blog. I would love to be writing about how I am paying off debt and showing charts of the decrease in my extreme student loan debt, but the reality is I am on a different path right now. And for that reason, my blog is becoming more of a personal development blog, for in order to pay off the debt, I need to get my career in order, and in order to get my career in order, I have to change the way I think and the actions that I follow because of these thoughts.

As I titled in my blog name, I am on a marathon to pay off debt. Not just a half-marathon with 13.1 miles or a full-marathon with 26.2 miles, but a trek across the Antarctic continent, as The Happy Homeowner plans to do in 2015. I just have to say, Jen’s marathon adventures are truly inspiring and one day I will do running marathons myself, but for now I am on the Debt Marathon of my life.

For a long time, I have approached my debt from a negative place. When I accumulated the debt while earning three degrees and paying for the lifestyle of my twenties, I was excited for the new opportunities that the education would bring me. I am still excited for these opportunities but the thoughts deeper within me have been depressing, particularly with each change in direction, each rejection from a potential employer, and with each $710 loan payment that barely makes a dent in my debt.

As I’ve been journeying this summer for new employment and new opportunities that align to who I am and my goals, I’ve been working on overcoming these negative thoughts. Through writing here and sharing with all of you, I am able to write a new story and with that lead my actions in the direction that I want to go. The positives of my debt are that I have an incredible education that is insurmountable to helping me achieve my goals. And, now is the time to make these goals my reality!

A New Course Begins

With all the uncertainty I have faced this summer, I know I have been tested by a higher power. I could have given into the uncertainty and let negative emotions consume me. As they have before. But instead I turned within to the higher source of my soul and the energy of the universe. I focused on affirmations to confirm within my thoughts my deeper purpose in life. Why I am here. And, what I am meant to do. I’ve read the advice of spiritualists, entrepreneurs, and fellow bloggers. And I believe in faith.

I think this has been my biggest lesson. Faith. Without any income coming in and with each job rejection, in every moment I have to tell myself over and over again, that I will be okay. That God will provide. The universe will align with my intentions. That the next step in my journey will be revealed at the right moment, at the right destination.

And it is happening. I have returned full circle to where my summer journey began. Back to the high school that I love. Back with the students that I love and whom I wanted to share and give myself more to. Back to where I belong.

Though, my position is not what I expected. I’ll be a part-time special education teacher instead of a full-time paraeducator. I will not be teaching social studies or leading a classroom. And, though it is not what I intended initially, I see the position as very promising for the skill set I will learn and the opportunities it will lead me to. I have faith that this is what is supposed to happen, because it is what will happen. I tried really hard to get a full-time position, but this is what was willed instead. I trust that this is God’s plan; this is the will of where I am supposed to go next.

As I run the course of the next leg in my marathon, I wonder what else will happen. I’ll be coordinating in my state the One Million Bones project. I feel confident that I will implement the project at the high school where I am hired, and perhaps for the district, and I see that working part-time will also allow me the time to do on-site programs in other schools and with that form deeper connections that could lead to new opportunities and a more meaningful experience between the project and the students.

As of now, I also plan to continue driving an hour-and-a-half to sell paintings one day a week for extra money – ugh and sigh — but if I could do something else, what I think could be possible, if that is what is meant to be. Then, I would.

Making this impossible thing become a possibility would be a lot of hard work. It would take time away from my family. Again. But it could be just what is supposed to happen. Why I have not been hired at a school. And why I am hired instead to work part-time.

What is this other idea you may ask? What else could I add into my life? Will you think I am crazy for wanting this? Perhaps.

Yes, it is to go back to school! Yes, that is my idea. You may think I am crazy. With all the loans. You may say, this girl needs a full-time job not another degree! And you are right, I really do. But I have to trust that my intuition is leading me in the right direction.

If I am able to make it happen, I would want to start this fall, in a week or two. I would begin my doctorate in education with my research and thesis on the role of arts and technology in education, which aligns directly to the courageous goals I desire. The work I would do for this degree would help me develop my educational website, and with a doctorate I would be hirable at universities and colleges as a full-time professor.

The problem with going back to school is that I don’t have the money for it, and I do not want to take out more loans. Rather, I would want to become a graduate assistant and as payment I would receive course credits. The school where I would want to go to has a position offered for an assistant in their digital imagery department, which would also help me build my website.

On Monday I plan to visit the school and discuss my options, to see if this is possible to achieve. If not, something else will be presented. I have faith.

What do you think of my idea? Do you think it is possible?

What are your bigger goals? How are you taking steps to achieving them?