Go to college. Pursue your passion. Buy a house. For pete’s sake, turn the goddamn volume down.
Sound familiar?
Me too.
I followed all the above advice (except for the volume part), but nothing turned out like I expected. Now, I’m an “unemployed” wildlife biologist with an apartmentful of furballs. I went from researching how to use stable isotopes to decode wildlife mysteries in grad school to my current job – freelance writing. Who the hell could have planned that one?
It didn’t start out that way, though.
Who the hell am I?
I’m a weirdo.
I love learning new things, whether it be French, how to blog, or even playing folk metal on my guitar Harald (I suck). I’m the type of person who reads college textbooks for fun, and then relaxes while knitting a nice pair of socks to the not-so-soothing ballads of Tool. I’m also fond of curse words, if you haven’t noticed.
Here are some more fun facts about me:
- I gestated for 10 months instead of 9.
- I grew up in northern Michigan.
- I went to the National Spelling Bee in 2001.
- I scooted off to Alaska on my own at age 18.
- I was in the Iditarod for about an hour.
- I got married to my awesome husband before I was legally able to drink (wink wink).
- I was once sent to the ER by a reindeer right before Christmas near North Pole, AK.
Where am I going?
I’d like to take you back with me to a very special moment. Luckily, it’s available on replay.
I’m talking about the movie 300. Yup.
There’s a scene where King Leonidas is meeting with Xerxes, the evil Persian emperor, after a long battle. King Leonidas takes off his helmet, lowers his weapons and his shield, and…I…uh…sorry. I got distracted by the abs. Anyways, Leonidas walks forward to bow to the emperor.
It looks like he’s making a huge mistake. Is he giving up? Then, at the last minute, he launches an attack that shakes the very foundation of the Persian empire.
The mistakes he made weren’t mistakes at all. Looking in reverse, he had to make all of those “mistakes” so that he could retool and do what no one had ever done before.
That’s what I’m doing with my finances, and my life.
Looking back, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I have two degrees in Wildlife Biology and Conservation even though I can’t find a job as a wildlife biologist. I bought an evil house that tried to kill my bank account and eventually gave the house up. I’m in a metric shit ton of debt.
Are these really financial mistakes though? Or could I instead turn them into something else that, looking in reverse, made me stronger and better than before?
That’s what this blog is about.
