Well, friends, for those of you who have been following my soap opera of “trying to make a living in the Redneck Riviera,” here is the latest update (sorry, it’s long!):
(For the whole story, see previous threads,
http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/index.php?topic=11474 "yoga with horses," and
http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/index.php?topic=12263) "no $$ in yoga"
I have been advertising my cleaning & design company since mid November with zero results. Just a few jobs, mostly painting, for family and friends. All I would really need is 2 or 3 steady weekly customers for house cleaning and I could make ends meet. I will do yet another mass mailing to “upper income households” in the near future and hope for the best.
I continue to work as a “psychic” in lieu of being able to use my psychology M.A. to practice counseling. I did go back to school last year and got my Pastoral Counselor certificate as well as Holistic Wellness Counselor, neither of which has resulted in jack sh*t. I signed up with a couple of online consulting services, one of which had a $50 application fee, and have gotten no clients. The “psychic” job is fine although I get tired of playing Fortune Teller and again, the work is not steady and it doesn’t pay enough to make a living. So, I went crawling back to one of my previous transcription jobs (not medical, just general like business notes, interviews, etc.) and they said, “Welcome back, we’re glad to have you!” That was 10 days ago and they have had no work for me yet; in any case they only pay around minimum wage or less.
Meanwhile 4 fancy new studios have opened at the beach since December 2011 which offer classes for $5, some for free. I have pretty much accepted the fact that I can’t make a living teaching yoga in this town and decided to offer classes on a donation basis, maybe go non-profit, when my tenant moves out of the house we built in June 2013 and use that for my new studio. But obviously I will have to do SOMETHING to pay the mortgage, insurance, property taxes, etc. I’m still trying to figure out what that will be, since I can’t seem to get work even though I have a Master’s degree and am willing to scrub toilets.
We found a roof leak in our trailer home recently and on going up there over the weekend, discovered that mice had chewed a hole in the shingles (I can hear them happily chewing up the ceiling and walls at night) and while we fixed that spot, it turns out the entire roof is basically falling apart and needs to be replaced, (as does part of the floor), which we can in no way afford. Meanwhile my husband owes thousands in back child support and taxes despite the fact that he works at hard labor, often 7 days a week, and makes so little that he qualifies for food stamps, and if he doesn’t find a way to pull more $$ out of his ass, he will go to jail.
And yet here I am madly in Love, enjoying the Divine Romance, doing my yoga, and trusting that “everything will work out somehow,” while we fall deeper into debt. The ongoing saga is so crazy that it’s almost amusing. In the back of my mind I think maybe I ought to be really worried; however, I can’t seem to get myself too worked up about it and in any case, what good would it do?! I am already doing everything I possibly can, and worrying won’t help. It’s actually kind of exciting and/or freeing from a spiritual standpoint; like, I’m free falling but I know I’m in God’s hands.