Another Beginning

Here I am and Labor Day's right around the corner. The past three years passed in a blur. I feel like I just moved to Carlisle and started law school and here I am three years later, a law school graduate who just took the bar, is jobless, and back living in East Tennessee with my mama. Life is great!

Now, most people, when they hear I am jobless, get one of two expressions on their face. 1) The sympathetic but hopeful look, which goes along with the "I'm sure something will turn up soon" words of comfort. 2) The panicked look of astonishment, especially when I give them my total nonchalance shrug. The first group goes without saying. The second group tends to be other law students - half of whom are lucky enough to have procured employment (either by luck or sending out hundreds of resumes) and the other half are in the same boat, but can't fathom my calmness. Heehee. Not that I haven't looked and applied, but I'm just very picky. I quit a pretty comfy job to come back to law school to do something specific. I have no intentions of caving into the panic and getting a job just to have a job. If I need money, Walmart is always hiring. ;-)

So here I am, hanging out with no money and actually happier and more content that I ever was when I made the big bucks. In fact, I'm going through my stuff and downsizing even more. I had to downsize when I moved to Dallas. I moved from a two bedroom, three story townhouse to a 1 bedroom/1 office apartment. Then I moved from that apartment into an even smaller apartment in Carlisle. All along the way I've been sloughing off the excess, but I still held onto a lot (all of which is in my mom's basement). After living for the past year out of a suitcase in other people's homes, I've finally realized what I really did know, but never accepted - I don't need the majority of this stuff. In fact, I'd say at least 3/4 of what I have needs to go. All those articles about living simply, downsizing your life, cutting out the excess are true. I've already increased my eBay usage, but as a seller instead of a buyer.

As I slowly filter out the crap, I actually feel better and better. I had already pulled myself out of consumer debt and had given up credit cards (except for the emergency only one), then I got out from under a car payment, and now the discarding of the excess. Now, if I could just find someway to make the law school loans disappear... but overall, life is pretty good.

Live simply and simply live.