When I Was Young (er)!

When I was young, school was an obstacle to living my life. The only thing that made school worthwhile was boys. LOL  How sad is that? Well, it’s no sadder, I suppose than the fact that I skipped over 20 days of school my senior year.  I just hated school so much and thought I was ready to live my life.  What I didn’t understand then was that an education was an important part of me being able to support myself and take control of my own life.  My home life with my parents was not great.  My father was emotionally abusive and my mother was (still is) an alcoholic. All I could think about was growing up, getting married, and having my own life. What I should have focused on was getting an education so I would never have to depend on anyone ever again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happily married to my husband of 20 years. What I’m saying is that all this time I have depended on him to be the main breadwinner and, while it was something we mutually agreed upon, in some ways I think that wasn’t fair to either of us. Last December he lost his job and we have been in limbo ever since. If I had either an education or marketable skills, we’d be in a better position than we are now but I am not qualified for any job that would make enough to offset the loss of his income. Does that mean I’m giving up? Absolutely not and that brings me to today’s post.  I want to talk to you about learning.  🙂

While I hated school as a young person, I LOVED learning. As long as it wasn’t math related I would listen and read anything and everything I could about all kinds of subjects. I’m still that way today.  If there is something that I find interesting, I will completely immerse myself in the topic and read anything I can get my hands on about it. You know what is really awesome about the internet? It has provided so many opportunities for us to learn about things that interest us and that is just an incredible gift. YouTube has videos on just about any topic you can think of and some things you really have to see in order to learn how to do them. Even better, YouTube is free. Yes, you have to put up with ads BUT that is so minor when you consider what you are getting return! Sitting through a 30-second ad so a youtuber can make a living is the least you can do when you are consuming their content. Now, if you don’t like that or you’re looking for something a bit more in-depth, there are other options out there for you. Recently, I signed up for a subscription to a site called Skillshare. Wow!  I cannot even tell you how much I love this site! They have classes on SO MANY things and the teachers are really high quality. Since my husband lost his job, I have been wracking my brain to try and think of ways to try and help our family stay afloat. I decided to dust off my blog and see if I could bring in some money that way but, let’s face it, I’m not going to be able to do that without feeling like I’m selling my soul.  You will find affiliate links here but I’m not going to make much off of those.  On Skillshare  (affiliate link) though I came across some classes on learning Adobe Illustrator.  Now we’re talking! I have always loved artsy things.  Calligraphy, painting, sketching, all of these are things that I have done at one point or another.  Now on Skillshare, I have the opportunity to hone those skills and perhaps gain a career from that! This is so exciting which is why I want to share it with you. There is a fee but when you think about what you get in return, it’s totally worth it! I paid $99 for a year of unlimited learning opportunities.  If you follow the link I provided, you will get two months free! Just try it and see if you like it, too!

There are other sites out there that offer educational opportunities.  The Daily Beast sells some courses and there is a site called, Udemy, that also has several courses to choose from.  With both of those sites you pay for the individual class.  What I like about Skillshare is that it’s one flat fee and you can choose more than one class to take.  What sites do you know of that offer educational opportunities?  I’d love to check out any that you can recommend. Please leave them in the comments!

Also, now that Spring has FINALLY sprung (at least down here in the South), I’d like to share a little print that I made in Illustrator. Please feel free to download it and print it for your enjoyment. Please don’t sell it or claim it as your own.  That would be a real bummer. Just right-click on the picture to save it!

 

I hope all is well in your world!