Moving Forward

The other day I was unpacking and I came across one of my decorations from my room. I believe it was a gift from my sister and it says keep moving forward. I have not written specific goals for this year yet I am very behind the curve with this whole move. Despite that I do believe this move and this decision is very much moving me forward in my game of life and moving me closer to my long term career goals.

From January until August I will be a nanny. This is something I never imagined I would be doing, especially after getting my bachelor’s degree. At the time that this opportunity was presented to me, it was the best option I had. Columbus was great, but the post grad life in Columbus was nothing like I had hoped it would be. This was taking a toll on me and I needed a change.

Sometimes there are opportunities that come along that you never expected and when deciding you need to ask yourself will going forward with this opportunity get me closer to my life goals, whether that be related career, relationships, or anything else in your life. Here are some ways in which my big move and becoming a nanny are getting me closer to my long term goals.

Schooling

I graduated with my degree in biology and only came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a dietitian within my last year of college. Due to this I did not change my major or delay graduation, which could have been an option. To get into a dietetics masters program I do need a handful more classes before I will be accepted in a program. Taking this job allowed me enough free time to enroll in a couple of classes while working and therefore working towards the ultimate goal of becoming a dietitian. For this spring semester I am enrolled in classes online through Ohio State, but hope to get some in person classes in the summer and fall to hopefully meet some more people my own age.

Another way I plan on moving forward with my schooling is by retaking my GRE. I took my GRE once, and I believe if I did not have the day I had it would have gone much better.

The day I took my GRE was a disaster. I did not follow the directions on the emails and go find the exam center before the day of the test. I figured with my GPS and some extra time I would have no problem getting there. Well I got stuck behind a train that stopped on the tracks. Legitimately just stopped on the tracks. I tried turning around and going down a couple streets, but the train was long enough to be stopped there too. So I called the place and they assured me I would be able to take the exam as soon as I got there even though the emails all led me to believe that if I was not there exactly on time I would not be able to take the exam. So the train finally moves and I get to the address only to find out that I had put the address in wrong by choosing the wrong side of the street. The street was divided by cardinal direction and I chose the wrong side of the street. At this point I am so freaked and frustrated and frazzled, not a good mindset to be in when taking a standardized test. So I call them back, pretty much in tears, they again assure me I will be able to take the test. They then told me how to get there from where I was; I must not have been the first to make this mistake. Finally I got to the testing center, I took a few breaths and as well as I could composed myself. I ended up being about an hour late, and I am never late for anything so that was a big deal in and of itself. I took the test and got a decent score, but not a great score and will be taking it again hopefully in less stressful circumstances to increase my likelihood of getting into the masters program that I want.

Financial

In Columbus I was not going to be able to continue being in the situation I was in. I enjoyed my job, but was not making enough to continue to pay for rent in Columbus, which was something I definitely had to learn for myself. On top of that I wanted to get some classes in, but did not want to take more student loans and that would have been the only option had I stayed in Columbus. In Texas I have moved in with family, I might report more on how it goes after the fact, but so far all is going well. This is allowing me to not only start making payments on loans that I have both car and student, but also will allow me to save some money. I am a very money conscious person, so knowing this and knowing I will be able to have an emergency savings account after this year puts me at ease.

Social

Moving to a new city and only knowing a few people to begin with is very scary. And on top of that making friends at older ages is more difficult. So socially this move is somewhat of a challenge for me, especially because I am very introverted. It takes me some time to warm up to people. Although it may be challenging I believe this challenge will be very good for me. I believe it will help me in the long run learn to be more comfortable approaching people I don’t know and striking up conversation along with other social skills. These skills I hope I get better at during this time will help with things such as networking events in the future.

Relationships

My move to Texas is giving me a very unique situation. Some of my mom’s side of the family we did not see very often when I was younger because they lived in Texas and us in Ohio. Now that I am in Texas I have the opportunity to get to know this part of my family much better than ever before by spending much more time with them than ever . I am very excited to learn more about them and hear stories of my great grandmother, who was very active in my life until she passed.

There are probably many more ways in which this opportunity is moving me forward that I do not even realize at this point. I am so grateful that this opportunity arose and can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store for me.

So what are you doing in 2019 that is moving you forward? Let me know in the comments.