The Economy and Me

I haven't mentioned how the economy has affected me yet.

I graduated from college in December of 2008 with my bachelor's degree in Public Relation. As of November of 2008, I had a full time job lined up a ready to go. By January, I still hadn't gone full time at that job, and was told that it wasn't going to happen. I work part time as a secretary at a big hospital in town, so I had some income coming in. Once I got the bad news about my full time job, I started applying to jobs in a 50 mile radius like crazy. I had an offer to sell insurance on a 100% commission basis, but I didn't feel comfortable with that. I had a few interviews, and was told on several occasions that I was competing with people that had 5 or 6 years of experience.

Here I am in May, still working part-time at the hospital. I know how lucky I am to have a job, but I can't help being frustrated with the fact that I am not in the field that I want to be in, and that I'm only part-time.

I had a really great job interview last week, so we'll see what happens. I'm at the point where I don't get excited or hopeful about potential leads anymore, because I have had so many let downs! This job would be really good for me career wise, and I really respect the owner of the company--it would be a great situation overall.

Ryan just graduated from grad school the Saturday before last (yay!), and he has been applying for jobs too. He wants to coach distance running collegiately, and he would be so good at it. You should see him with his athletes - it is so obvious that he was put on this earth to coach.

If I get this job that I just interviewed for, and he gets a coaching job, then I will probably have to stay here for a while, and Ryan and I would try our hand (again) at a long distance relationship (we started dating in March of 2008, and he spent May-August working in his hometown of St Louis, about 2 hours away from my hometown). If Ryan doesn't get a coaching job, he might stay here in my hometown and volunteer with the University's team to get another year of experience. If he does that, though, he would have to find a job where he could be done by 2:45 p.m. so that he could help out at practice. Or, he could find a high school teaching job (his undergrad degree is in education) and coach at the high school level. The only caveat with this is that once he gets into having his own program, he won't want to leave and keep looking for collegiate coaching jobs. I am stubborn and insist that he MUST pursue coaching at a college because it's now or never (we have no mortgage, no kids, why not?).

This is all probably very confusing, so my apologies! Ryan and I have gone over and over our options so many times that my mind is all in knots. It's all up to a far greater power than us, so I do my best to trust that everything is going to work it's way out the way it's supposed to. Being a control freak, this is nightmarishly hard. I'm a planner by nature, so it's super hard for me to not know where either Ryan and/or I will be in a month.

To wrap this up, I am lucky to have a job, even if I am only part time and do not get enough hours. Everything is very up in the air for Ryan and I right now, but we're in a very transitory part of our lives, so this is to be expected, I suppose. There's a line from St. Theresa's prayer that I really like that I try to focus it on "May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be." Until Ryan and I's job situation gets figured out, the real wedding planning must wait. Until then, it will remain at inspiration only!

How has the economy affected you and your loved ones? Has it affected your wedding, and how so?