Disaster: Practice Final

Disaster can strike at any given moment, but this disaster was my own fault. The first time I was enrolled in college, I did not succeed for many reasons. The biggest reasons being, I moved into my first apartment and it was no where near my school. I had a 35 hour a week job, and it was still not enough for me to survive on. Finally, I had no car to drive me from A-B-C, and with no steady rides lined up to help me out, I put myself in an unfortunate situation. This was a tough spot for me to be in, but I did it to myself so I knew that school was not going to work the first time around, but I would be back again to make it work, once I had more ammo in my arsenal.

My first apartment was a two bedroom place, with my brother, and it was $800/month +electricity, this is no easy feat for anybody making minimum wage. I tried to go out and find a better job, but unfortunately I did not find one making any more money than what I was already making. Basically at this point in time, I prematurely moved out of my parents house, and forced the world on myself. I do not look back on this as a regret, but as a learning experience to show me where I needed to be financially, in order to make living and school work in a cooperative manor.

I was working 35 hours a week at the Main Street Shaws, and my hourly pay was not enough to compensate for all the money that was going out. I was quickly getting into the negative, and there was nothing that I could do about it at this point in time. So while I was working at Shaws, I was missing classes at school, and whenever I could make it to class, I had no ride. So I would try to catch a bus over to the school, and the bus schedule always screwed up my schedule. It was a vicious cycle of having class and work schedule either at the same time, or too close together for me to be able to make both. I had to choose work, I was attempting to be self supporting, and it was not working for me, something had to give.

Many of the kids my age had cars given to them by their parents or a relative, I was not one of these fortunate teenagers. I had no car, and my bike had two popped tires, this was depressing. I felt like I was giving adult life my best, but my best was not good enough. I had to focus on too many things at once, when I had no way of handling it by myself. It was at this point in time when I realized I needed to acquire a vehicle if I had any hopes of success. In order to do this, I needed to make more money and bank it, so that one day I could go out and buy a vessel that could assist me with getting my small things done, such as rides, and paying bills on time, and making it to all of my mandatory events. This was necessary for me to become a fully participating, fully achieving adult.

If disaster can strike at any time, all we can do is plan for the worst, and hope for the best. Now that I have a more affordable living situation, my school paid for, and a reliable vehicle, I am doing better then ever. I am trying to do right by myself and my family, and it all starts with my attitude, my initiative, and my will power to make the positive outcome a reality.