Driving down the road, an hour and a half commute ahead of me, and air conditioning in my car had gone out a few weeks back. Ugh. Coming to a complete stop on the freeway, after consistently going 10-15 mph,  I stopped and thought about all the things I needed to spend money on. A/C in the car was broken, cell phone acting wonky, needed to change my address on my driver’s license, needed new work boots, and a host of other things.

Being an adult with responsibilities and bills is so bleh

I’ve been working so much that my website and blog have taken a backseat. I hate it. I’m trying to figure out this whole “balancing” thing. I’ve come to terms and realized some things over the past few weeks.

Job searching is an exhausting thing.

I’m glad I’m done with it (for the time being). I have a full-time job…it’s okay. But it isn’t directly related to my major. When I first started the job, I used to get frustrated by this. I wanted something where I got to do something I enjoyed (community management, outreach, web content, design).

It didn’t take long for me to come around and look on the bright side. Although I currently work a job I don’t fully feel satisfied with, it does provide some great advantages. I have health insurance, a 401k with matching, and have the obvious benefit of holding a job that helps me support myself and pay bills.

According to Mindy Kaling’s autobiography, her fresh college grad self loved having health benefits just as much as me. (side note: Mindy Kaling is freaking awesome, that is all).

I love having side projects to work on

Apparently “side hustles” are this new “it” thing to have. They are covered in numerous articles and I hear it all the time within the design, consulting, writing, and blogging fields. For the past few weeks, despite work being physically exhausting, I’ve been making headway on some personal projects of mine. The first and most important one being my debut novel. With the exception of my feature on Blots & Plots back in June, I haven’t talked about it in much detail. That will change soon! I don’t want to talk about it much until I get this next draft of it finished. I can’t wait to share more about it!

I’ve also been working on learning more about design in the little free time I have after spending it on writing my novel. Currently I’m focusing on getting better at hand-lettering and Photoshop. I completed six Skillshare classes on Photoshop and different techniques. Can’t wait to learn more!

People my age are so…bleh sometimes

Saving for retirement? Having an emergency fund? Making goals and actually working towards them? Nope. Lots of people my age don’t do that. I’m 21 years old. I graduated college with my bachelor’s degree in 2.5 years because I wanted to get a head start in the real world.

Since graduating college back in December, I’ve meet and talked with other recent college graduates. So many of them don’t live within their means and don’t think about the long term. They buy nice new cars, get nice apartments. eat out a lot more, treat themselves more often. Then they wonder why they don’t have more money and can’t make more headway on their bills and debt.

Live below your means

You don’t need to spend money (going to the movies, a nice restaurant, shopping, etc) to have fun. All it takes is a good group of people and some great conversation. In the past few months, I’ve moved away from friendships that didn’t lift me up in any way. I don’t go on mindless dates that I know won’t end up anywhere. I surround myself with uplifting, ambitious people who have goals and go after them.

Changing perspective and knocking down perfectionism

I’m not a perfectionist.

At least I didn’t think I was. I’m still not entirely sure I could be classified as one. Although many of my friends and people have commented about how I am. Still not convinced I am. I’m just a Type A person. I like plans, outlines, organization. I want the very best of the things I work on. Sometimes I just go overboard.

When I was 17 years old, I went up to my boss at the BBQ restaurant I worked at, and somewhat jokingly asked him if I could start a managerial position with a 401k plan that had matching. Four weeks into starting college, I attended a job and internship fair. I happily gleamed looking down at the glossy magazine I had made for my media design class and excitedly printed out at FedEx.

Sometimes I get a little too ambitious. Life has thrown me in a loop and at first I was freaked out by it. Now I’m learning to come to terms with it and find different ways to make things happen.

Nowadays I’m doing less overthinking and more doing.

I’m ready. (& definitely set to get back on this website and share more about what I’m doing). Let’s do this *cue the rip away pants*