Where Shall I Live?

Originally published/last updated on myearlyretirementjourney.com on Jan 11, 2020. 

So while I have stepped away from the edge… a bit… I still have some cool irons in the fire so to speak.

Eleven days into the new year and I’ve only applied to 4 jobs. Maybe I can quit this obsession after all. As my self-proclaimed mentor has already advised I need to come to terms with my call center life.

This week is bound to be angst ridden as I’m hoping to hear back from my hottest iron in the fire. The hiring manager all but said, we’ll call you on the 13th and hope you can start by the 27th (of Jan). I’ve been betrayed before.

Knowing how I get with variable outcomes, I slated my weekend with things to keep me busy. Saturday’s schedule included a 9a walk followed by a 2p softball meetup and ended with a boardgame meetup.

I did none of those things. I had a bad night last night thinking of the 118th nail in my call center coffin – a rejection from the aforementioned hiring manager.

I’d already decided that I’m not renewing my lease when it ends in April 2020. I’d come to the conclusion that if I didn’t get this job (or any other job), I had to find a cheaper place to live. This led me to re-evaluate homeownership which landed me on an affordable townhouse 80 miles south in a less-than-ideal neighborhood.

Be not afraid.

Wanting to clear the skeletons of this prospect, I woke up in haste and set out to see what I could see.

Nothing bad happened.

The neighborhood was indeed rough around the edges. Lots of litter. But no bullet holes; only two houses were boarded up; another had all the windows broken and looked as though it had been in a fire (who knows how recently). All in all, the neighborhood was kind of quiet. Some families with young children. No loiterers, but it was also around 11a on a Saturday.

The weather was breezy so that helped the mood as well.

Altogether, doable. I now have a viable Plan B in case this week is rife with disappointment and strife. Having a viable Plan B makes it that much easier to deal with an undesirable outcome. Having a Plan B takes away some of the doom and gloom, woe is me type of feelings.

So I ran my numbers one more time and compiled them in a handy chart I can glance over throughout the week to self-soothe when negative thoughts threaten to hijack my amygdala.

Even in the face of disappointment, I am okay. I shall be okay.

My Plan B is aligned with my FIRE goals. It is aligned with my goal to reduce my housing costs, not quite to $650/mon as I was hoping, but an improvement nonetheless.

As for Sunday, I have a 10a Yoga class; followed by an outdoor ballgame, and a wellness workshop later in the afternoon.