Slow living in 2024 was never my plan. Well, I never really had a plan- aside from resigning as an Administrative Assistant from a local government agency. I've been with the company for a little over six years, and it was a scary decision. The workload is heavy but the people are good that's why I stayed for so long, but I always knew that it'll never be my retirement job.
After I resigned, I was able to land freelancing gigs as a content writer. It's not as stable, but it's freeing. I get to be creative again and I was looking forward to it! It had ups and downs like others.
I've updated my CV multiple times and done some upskilling to make me more valuable, aside from tens and even hundreds of applications sent, unending cover letters, and tens of introduction videos, I found myself in the world of freelancing again.
To be honest, it was hard to come back to freelancing. The freelancing world has evolved, and while it is good that many adapt to it, which means more opportunities, it was also hard because I had to relearn things again. The tech that we have right now is so advanced than when I started freelancing in 2017.
1. SAVINGS IS THE KEY
I'll be honest, I wouldn't have done what I did last year if I didn't have enough savings to get me through. I resigned without any job offer from any company, I was freelancing way before VA trended but it was a different field now, and I only started applying seriously after I resigned.
There's a perception that if you're in a government position, you're good already because it's stable. And while it is true, I didn't see myself aging in the position that I am in. The desire of not having a regret for not trying is heavier than the stability my regular job was giving. And so I resigned.
I was fortunate to have saved decently, and I had an Emergency Fund, so resigning was a bit easier for me. The rule of thumb that I followed was to save 6 months' worth of my monthly salary. Others followed the 6 months' worth of monthly expenses, but I went over it and did the 6 months' salary just to have more leeway when push came to shove.
Prior to my resignation, to manage my finances, I first listed down all the fixed bills that I had for the year and separated the money for those payments so I wouldn't spend it on other stuff. The kinds of fixed bills that I have were internet, insurance, electric bills, and food. I made sure that those necessities were covered for the next months, and that gave me peace of mind.
2. NEVER STOP LEARNING
When I finished college, and until now, I never had the urge to take any Master's degrees. I just didn't have the urge to do it because I didn't see the use for me. Aside from the fact that there are no Communication-related post-graduate degrees nearby, I don't know if it'll be of use to me.
But what I could say is that it doesn't matter what kind of education or learning you want to pursue, just never stop learning. It doesn't matter if you want to learn other soft skills or venture into other things, just don't stop learning.
In my case, I never dove into anything that deep, but I learned enough stuff about things that can be useful to me. For example, basic coding that I've used for this blog. I can't say that I'm good at it, but I can definitely do customisation and fix my template whenever I want to change it. I've learned the basic SEO, digital marketing, and copywriting.
These skills will help you put yourself out there and negotiate better terms when it comes to job opportunities.
3. PRIORITIZE YOUR HEALTH
I've talked about this with a friend recently. My latest realization is that we shouldn't take our health for granted because it'll keep up on us by surprise.
When I was a kid, my dysmenorrhea fix was a cold soda, especially Sprite. I was so confident with how my body could take it without repercussions that I drank them first thing in the morning without any food. And back then I thought being able to burp when I wanted to was a talent because apparently not everyone could do it, but looking back at it now, I realized that it is easy for me to burp because of so much acid in my body.
I have had bouts of acid reflux the past couple of months since transitioning as a remote worker and it wasn't good. I overthink things when it comes to health and in the process, the symptoms that I had were magnified. I admit that since transitioning to remote work, I wasn't able to move and be active. I was working a graveyard shift in the early months and to be honest I just kept making excuses.
Well, to be fair, working a graveyard shift is hard, and it is scientifically proven to weaken the immune system. And my goal was just to get as much rest and sleep because it was tiring. But in that process, I neglected my body. I wasn't doing any exercises at all. I was averaging 300 steps in a day for the past 7 months! And on top of that, the food that I'm consuming is not really healthy.
I had 3 check-ups in 4 months because of that. The first, it was acid reflux around October. The second was in January due to a virus that caused me bronchitis, and the last one is in February and it is acid reflux again.
The latest one was eye-opening for me. I realized that I was overweight too and I had to do something about my health. I started exercising and running. I also shifted my diet and focus on whole foods to clean my gut because apparently, 80% of our immune system is in our gut.
4. REST IS IMPORTANT
As I've mentioned, I lacked exercise because I was trying to rest and get some sleep. But what I did wrong was that I wasn't getting any quality sleep or rest. I was resting yet I'm not well-rested.
I realized that rest is not just sleep. It is that walk you take mindlessly to increase your step counts, it is the off-time eating healthy and hearty food, it is the few minutes with nature maybe tending to a garden or watering plants, it is the short book reading session or that quick yoga or meditation.
5. KEEP MOVING
This is a literal and figurative lesson. Life moves on, we have to keep moving and target our next goal even if we feel like we haven't reached our current goals. I think life was bearable for me because I am optimistic about life and have so many things that I want to achieve.
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