So I’m jumping  back on the “I’m going to be a grown up!” wagon after not posting here in forever. No I didn’t suddenly turn into this super grown up and decide that I didn’t need this place anymore. Truth is I’m just as lost now, 8 months later, as I was when I started. There definitely is no “you’re going to be a mature, responsible adult” switch because if there was, I would have flipped it a long time ago. I think life would be much simpler now if there was since while I would have all these responsibilities to take care of, I wouldn’t be sitting up stressing every night about how I’m going to get on my own two feet.

One thing I know is that I have to do this. I have to figure out a way to get out of here and be on my own. The older I get, and the longer I spend under my mother’s roof, the worse our relationship is going to get. We see eye-to-eye on very few things and me being 23 makes it extremely difficult for me to back down to the same old “this is my house you’re going to do what I say” schpeel. I know it’s disrespectful to my mother for me to be putting up such resistance to her way of life, but there comes a point in time when I can’t be mommys little girl anymore.

I am back in school, at an Art Institute. I’m not going for a Master’s, I’m actually in another Bachelors program for Web Design & Interactive Media (since they don’t offer Master’s degrees in Web design anyways)… I probably won’t end up staying the entire time and getting another degree, so for now I’m just taking the classes that I need in order to expand my knowledge of web design, feel more confident in my design abilities, and help me get a good job. So I’m not living at home anymore, I’m actually down near Harrisburg now and I love it there (well, not my living situation, but the general area). Classes start up again on the 11th so I’m about to make the journey back down.

I’m still unemployed (not for a lack of trying – filled out applications for Best Buy and Ross today, going to fill out more tomorrow) but hopefully that will be able to change soon. I have money saved up to live on (thanks 100% to my unfailingly generous grandmother) but it would be nice to have a steady income so I don’t have to worry about the fact that I have a limited amount of savings, no cashflow and the very real need to eat / be able to drive. I’ve decided that step one needs to be me making a budget for myself and really looking at where my money is going and where I can start cutting back to save. I really need to start putting some cash away for the dreaded month when my student loans go into repayment.

I’m trying with everything that I can to get this right. I keep making mistakes along the way, but at least I’m doing what I can to learn from them and not make them again. So here’s to hoping that future blog posts here will be full of happy news on my journey to becoming a more responsible, independent, grown up Whitters!