Reflecting on 2015

At the end of 2014, I didn’t have a substantial income; I did work for SmartDatingUK and I enjoyed that writing, but I earned a really small amount of money and was dependent on Job Seekers’ Allowance (which was cut down a little bit each time I got money from SmartDatingUK). The money it cost to stay living at home was more than the money I had coming in and my savings had been dwindling more and more as time went by; at that point they were pretty much all gone. On top of that I had to waste money going to the Job Centre every single week, where they did nothing to help me find work and treated me with no respect. I’d been struggling to find work ever since university ended in June; I had a short term job at a school, been tricked into handing out Conservative propaganda and then worked unpaid in The Job Centre. Having no money meant I could never see any friends and most of the people I was close with had moved away anyway. So by the last day of 2014, I’d spent a good six months not getting to see any friends and losing all of my money. Getting a job seemed like it would be the solution to my problems, but even the lowest level jobs wouldn’t get back to me. It was probably the lowest point of my life so far.

By the last day of 2015, however, things had  moved forward quite nicely. I’m not sure I’d class 2015 as a ‘good’ year, but more of a ‘recovery year’ where my life was put back on track after the terrible derailment in the second half of 2014. Obviously, the first few months were just as bad as the end of 2014, but things made a temporary change for the better in February when I got a new job. Part of the new job was telemarketing (which I do not like) but an equal part of it was social media marketing and blogging, which I love and it gave me a chance to get some professional experience in the area I wanted; all the while I ‘clicked’ very nicely with the person who sat at the desk next to me and it felt good to be making a new friend. Sadly, this progress was brought to an end when I unexpectedly lost that job a little over a month later! So then I had no money again and I couldn’t see my co-worker either (we still email.) I had to spend another two months suffering away in the Job Centre before I found myself with another job. The next job, however, was superb: a full time writing position. That was only a six month contract and it ended in December, but I’ve kind of replaced it with another writing job and I feel like I’m doing okay, career-wise! I have loved all of my work since June.

I suppose the problem is that I still don’t get to see people often enough to be socially fulfilled and I need to work towards making new friends. There are a very small number of people who live close enough to meet up regularly and even then they are often busy when I’m not. This year I have solidified a friendship with somebody I only knew in passing last year and I am very pleased with that; the problem is that my attempts to make more friends and increase my social calendar have not gone all that well. A couple of people have unexpectedly invited me out to dinner, which was very nice and I hoped they’d become good friends who I could meet with regularly; sadly, I’ve not really heard anything from them since. I can’t really understand why. I hope that 2016 will be the ‘social recovery’ after 2015 was the ‘career recovery’; either way I am hopeful for 2016!

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