Resigned from my current Job today
 

I came to a hard decision and resigned my job at Rhoda Goldman Plaza. I enjoyed working there for the past 7-8 months. I've found the experience rewarding and the comradery I had with both the residents and staff alike invaluable.

Unfortunately, things have come to a point where the journey to and from work has become far too expensive for me to continue. For several weeks now, I have been loyally journeying between home and to a 20 hour work week.

Over the past two to three weeks I have been finding myself repeatedly going into emotional tail spins because I have been feeling trapped.
My life can essentially be described in three circles. The outer most circle is things I want to do. This includes traveling, returning to school and earning my BA, getting a new computer since my current one is on its last legs, investing in my online shops, among other things.

This circle is okay to ignore for now because they are future goals and will be fulfilled in time.

The inner circle is the things I need to do which is: attend to my health needs, pay off my student loans, cover necessary expenses such as clothes, shoes, etc.

These, unfortunately, are needs I've found myself unable to attend to. Which only adds to the problems that these issues hold.

This leaves the inner most circle which is where I am currently. This circle comprises my immediate needs, which is cover the rent, cover food expenses, and cover my means too and from work.

Working twenty hours a week, at 4 hours a day, with 4 hours travel time per day. Was making things difficult to accomplish the goals in this circle.

For the longest time, I have felt that I am trapped in a spin cycle within this circle. I have been looking for additional employment to my Rhoda Goldman job, another job in the city I could transfer too, and other jobs within Rhoda Goldman itself to help me. But nothing has opened as of yet. Currently, there are doors that are beginning to open to me, but I feel as though I can't go forward unless I let go of something else.

After much thought, I have decided that my time at Rhoda Goldman needs to come to an end. The journey I have before me as I search for another job will not be easy. But I do have people and experiences that I have never had before to help me on this task.

I do ask for peoples thoughts and prayers as I go forward in life.

Ouch, yeah, 4 hours travel time each day for only 4 hours of work is definitely not worth it. If that were me, far too much of the paycheck would be spent on just getting there and back and keeping the vehicle maintained, so can't say I blame you at all for deciding this isn't working.

Hope something good much closer to home happens for you in the near future. :)

I resigned from my job of 6 years, it was time to move on. I'm currently unemployed except for my freelance stuff. I've looked into other jobs but I think I'll wait until next year, it's only a few months away anyway.

I can see why you would have to do this. Best of luck in finding something else as I know it won't be easy. However, the fact that you have work experience bodes well for you and I'm sure you'll find something.

Hope your life situation is going well, Victory Angel. Best of luck with looking for a new job and hope your old job was a good learning experience for you.

Here's hoping things go your way, Angel.

The job market can be rough, and a lot of us have had to settle for what we can get.

But, I'm sure if you wait, something worthwhile will come up and things'll get better. :)

While I was facing these issues I began attending classes through a group called the "Computer Technologies Program". This is a program to help assist people who have cognitive and physical differences to gain employment.

I was able to pass these classes easily because I am already skilled in the programs they were teaching. This isn't to say I didn't learn anything, and often when I was through with an assignment I would get up and assist my classmates. After ending this class, I began job searching. The position the job counselor suggested to me was as a receptionist. Unfortunately, most receptionist jobs I looked at were doors slamming in my face. This was frustrating to me as this was something that happened fairly often before seeking assistance from the Department of Rehab. It was something that happened so often rejection was practically an expectation. And even when I did land an interview I was still passed over for someone else they felt fit their needs more. The frustration caused by this was also noticeably putting me in a dark place, and I also figure deep down...following the life-threatening experiences I had endured that year, I knew in my heart I was called to work in a job position where I was essentially chained to a desk.

I actually had been rather successful in working on my own, earning over $8,000 in cat sitting and over $400 dollars in my Zazzle Shops. 2018 was actually my biggest sales year to date as I had gained 37 sales. In that year I had made only 12 sales for the holiday, 2 Chinese new year sales and one final sale three days before New Years. So in total that would be 15 sales for the holiday season, leaving 22 sales for the rest of the year.

That brings me to this year. As the new year began I found myself looking into a lot of books about business and entrepreneurships. With the way, my shops on Zazzle were beginning to flourish I knew it had the potential to grow into a business. After all, I had learned a lot about business particularly retail business through my work through Zazzle.

I had managed to land a job with the local chapter of Amnesty International, unfortunately, this job didn't last long. The prospect itself was easy, I was only required to get three people to sign up as members for Amnesty International. Only one person in the four day period, however, took the time to listen to my pitch and sign up. And if you are unable to make those sign ups...the organization drops you like a hot potato. Fortunately, those four days weren't a total loss as I did earn some income for my time. These earnings I invested in signing up for classes in Photoshop and Indesign at the local Adult School.

Ever since I was forced to quit my pursuit of a BA at the Academy of Art in 2012, due to being evicted from my home in Pleasant Hill essentially leaving me homeless for several months. It's only for the good graces of family and friends that my family and I didn't end up on the street. I told myself, I can persue my a degree when I get a job, I can look into classes in this someday. However, I could also someday my way out of life.

The cancer-scare and the abnormalities before it was a wake-up call that said: "If you have goals you can't put them on hold, you need to pursue them now regardless of whether you have a job or not."

I also informed my Job Counselor and my Case Worker about this decision and needless to say, they were not happy about it. They understood these classes could be beneficial in helping me get hired. I also had told them I would continue job searching while attending these classes. But they also expressed these classes were a distraction that took me away from the job searching I should be doing. True to my word, I had continued to look for reception jobs that could be held in the weekend or evening. Nothing I found worked for me, because I do rely on public transportation to get where I am going. And much of the evening jobs put me in areas that would leave me as an open target while waiting for a bus.

The only job that actually said they felt was a match was a receptionist position at a Business Incubator called "Spaces". And they said they would recontact me in April when my classes were over. I also felt I had evolved beyond reception and began looking at job positions that reflected where I was. I also looked into volunteer jobs at the local humane society, this was meant to be used as a foot in the door. While the classes I had taken at "Computer Technologies Program" were useful, employers generally didn't know what that program was and believed it had had something to do with computer science. The Humane Society, on the other hand, would be a group that employers would recognize and have an interest in. I knew if I proved myself at the very least I would be able to gain some valuable references in addition to working experience.

However, when I met with my job counselor he told me if I wanted to continue services with DOR I should be looking at receptionist jobs only, and that he didn't feel the volunteer job and these classes were where I should be putting my attention. After some decision, I informed my case worker that I would no longer be seeking assistance from the department of rehab. I strongly felt I had evolved beyond what they wanted me to be and in order to pursue that path that meant leaving DOR.

Since leaving DOR I have completed both my Adult School Classes and passed successfully. I also have been attending regular visits to my volunteer job at the Humane Society. On Monday's I assist in attending the cats, my favorite moments are when I am able to bond with the new feline intakes. It helps the cats adjust to being at the humane society, and most of the ones I have bonded with have been adopted during the following weekend. On Saturdays, I do adoption center support and help by attending to the laundry. Just yesterday, the volunteering coordinator approached me and asked if I would be willing to help him with a task which was grouping event posters into stacks of twelve. This is a good thing because it indicated that could be called upon for task as needed.

My mother and I have collaberated on and successfully published a book which is available on Amazon and has sold rather well. A second book is currently in planning An Uncle of mine had also commissioned me to make him a card for his 50th wedding anniversary and requested two autographed copies of our book. My Aunt had actually bought a copy of this said book before and this was given to a friend of theirs and it was very well received. And sales in my shops have doubled from the number they were this time last year. I have also started another shop that has "Cat Centric" products which has become rather popular.

Recently I have been looking into pursuing an AA degree at the local community college. I have recontacted my case worker at DOR. I have pointed out the good sides of this is that would be able to gain employment through the school maybe even at the school and I would be able to gain an internship when everything was completed. I am scheduled to meet with her regarding this in a couple of weeks.