So, I guess you could say there was some major restructuring of my entire life, starting with my job. A couple months after the employment issues, my roommate’s boyfriend decided to break down the front door of our apartment, and threaten my roommate. The police came promptly and resolved the matter, but it was evident that I had to leave there as soon as possible. So now, I was working at the job from hell, with the boss from hell, and crashing at my friends place on the couch. Bry and I had discussed very early on in our relationship, marriage and spending our lives together, but with all this chaos going on, both families were dead against this idea. Both parties feeling that a long term relationship let alone a lifelong union could not be found with a match on-line. With all this friction, Bry and I’s relationship did indeed go through some bumps and hurdles, and we had some brief break-ups.
As well, my health started to suffer, and in mid 2006 I was diagnosed with rather severe Hyperthyroidism, or Graves’s disease ("The thyroid gland causing an overproduction of thyroid hormones,"T4" and/or "T3". Thyroid hormone functions as a controller of the pace of all of the processes in the body. This pace is called metabolism. If there is too much thyroid hormone, every function of the body tends to speed up."). I had lost some 25 pounds (and with the new job from hell I wasn’t exercising, so I definitely should not have been losing weight), my blood pressure had gone up to an insane number of 160/90, and I was extremely edgy, shaky and nervous all the time, had problems sleeping, and just walking up a couple steps made me feel I would drop dead. My friends noticed the symptoms first, saying I should get checked out by a doctor. When I hugged Bry one day, he even noticed, that he could feel my heart beating through my chest, at an alarming rate.
Well, thanks to my friends, pushing me to see a doctor, the Hyperthyroidism was brought under control within a year. With all the turmoil of that year though, I learned much and became stronger for the experiences. As for the job from hell, I learned I was an amazing diplomat (a skill I had not knew I possessed prior). The woman, who was my boss at this job, generally spent the day exploding in temper several times a day. She could lash out at her subordinates, sales reps, or other company members or at customers. So while I was hired to be the supervisor of the finance dept. and pass down orders from this highly incompetent boss, I spent most of my time putting out fires caused by this bosses outbursts. The happy news was, within a year I had brought order to chaos, and made being in this department tolerable to all who worked there. Also, I had established respect from all managers (even the vice president made positive comments of the turnaround in the department) and employees. I believe all the chaos in the beginning of 2006 also helped to bring about my health issues, so in this part of my life I also took a step back and took better care of myself.
I had found a wonderful studio apartment at the end of 2006 (no shares or roommates I promised myself going forward). My health was back to normal, and Bry and I, had nurtured our relationship, and our love continues to grow daily. In 2008 I left that job and moved on to another job in finance.
As 2010 soon approached, I felt my life was again at an important juncture. My goals, from getting my private pilot license, getting married, to opening my own flight school, and owning my own home, had all been put on the back burner as I got caught up in life’s issues (One of these issues being money). Back in 2006, with the difficulties of this year, I spent a great deal of money, on shopping sprees. It had always been my way, when I was depressed, to go out and buy a nice outfit, go get my nails done, or go out to with friends.
In 2009 I began to notice that I was maxing out almost all my credit cards. Prior, whatever I needed or desired something, I would simply just pulled out my trustee credit card and paid it. At the end of the month I just made sure to pay at least double of whatever the minimum was. Since my interest was low, and I never actually reviewed my credit card statements each month; the over spending went un-noticed by me for quite some time.
Then, early 2009, what brought my attention to my over spending and maxed out credit; was my credit cards started to greatly increase my interest (as I approached my credit limits). This in turn greatly increased my monthly minimums. I was forced to take an honest look at my finances. I put together a spreadsheet out lining all the debt owed at that time, and then made a list of all moneys coming in each month. Wow, I was complete blown over. I was 26 thousand in debt. I quickly worked out a budget, cut up all my credit cards, and within a two years, I have paid down the debt, and now owe 13 thousand. I have since not used any credit cards, and have totally revamped my idea on spending. Keeping a spending log, I wrote down where all my money was being spent, and either cut out all non-essentials (like getting my nails done, cocktails on Friday nights with co-workers, vacations, and shopping sprees), or cut back on other things (like coffee runs, and eating out). I’m very proud of myself, and I’m now set to have all my debt paid off this September. Then begins my quest to finally pick up on all the goals I had long since left behind…
