A New Job

I'm starting a new job tomorrow. On one hand I'm excited because it will allow me to catch up financially, very quickly. One of the roots of my depression was my lay-off back in 2016. Leading up to that time, I was really strong financially. I made good money, I had no debt other than my mortgage and vehicle, and I had savings and investments. When I was off work for heath reasons, I was overly confident that I would would have a job waiting for me when I returned to work, and I continued to spend like I did when I was working. When I finally returned to work, I was laid off right away. I didn't realize how much of my self-worth was tied to my job and financial well-being.

Over the next couple of years, I accrued more and more debt as my lay-off was right in the middle of the recession in Alberta and consistent work eluded me. I was forced to rack up my credit cards, my line of credit, and I even borrowed money from family. Even though I always thought I had things under control, the truth was I was sinking deeper and deeper, financially and mentally. Things finally came to a head for me when I started skipping work (which doesn't make a lot of sense when you have money trouble) and lying to my wife about it. She didn't have any idea how bad my depression was because I hid it from her. She eventually found out and I came clean about everything. Unsurprisingly, she immediately supported me and has helped me to get the creditors off my back and ensure my credit rating didn't take too much of a hit. 

Fast forward to last week. I was offered a job for a 4 month project. The money is outstanding but the job is located in Ponoka. The hours are 6:30am to 5:30am with a 1.5 hour commute on each end of the day. 6 days a week. While the terms of the work are not ideal, this is an opportunity for me that I need to take advantage of. It hasn't been easy for me to avoid getting stuck on the negative parts of the job, but I feel like I can do this if I focus on taking things one day at a time.