September Life Update; Losing My Job

As a new season arrives and nature begins to change, I have to face the realty that my life is about to also under go a dramatic transformation. Come this time in two weeks, I will have lost my full time job on reception at the youth center. It's a blow I wasn't quite expecting, so I'm in shock and very emotional. 

I've been volunteering and working there for close to five years now as I started a few months after The Factory opened. Since then, I have worked with so many great people and good young people, I have passed on my skills and helped some children by being a friendly, trustworthy person who'd listen to them. I have learned so much, changed as a person and realised I could do so much more then I first thought. I love this place, it's become my second home and family. So, saying goodbye is going to be very hard.

I still have my other two part-time jobs, but that's only 8 hours a week and with future plans brewing, I need a full time job and a steady sum of money. I'm no longer going to find that at the youth centre. So, I'm facing a flash to the past in my re-joining of job hunting. However, unlike last time I'm in a far better position to get a new job. All my previous skills have advanced, I've gained lots of new skills and my confidence has improved. I don't quite feel hopeful about the future as my past is lingering but at least things might be different this time. 

I think what also is making it tougher is the fact they are going to replace me with volunteers which doesn't sit well with me. I don't think they've thought it through. Where are they going to find these volunteers all year round? They can't make them work long hours, so other staff will have to help out thus not getting their own jobs done. Who will train them and supervise the volunteers as only I have been doing it? Who will cover other receptionists holidays and sickness etc? Who will do all my other tasks? I can see it just falling apart so fast. However, it's not my problem! 

I love this quote below. It keeps me going when I'm feeling down and it reminds me that because it's not my problem it's not my worry. 

Sadly, my boyfriend is in the same boat. He'll be made redundant about the end of this month. So, we'll both be on the hunt for new jobs. One of my plans is for us to try and find jobs that are in the same or close by area so we can move in together. If we both get jobs close to his house, I could move in and we could see if living together really works for us. That would progress the relationship then we could look at getting a house together. But right now, just moving on and getting any kind of full time long term job is my goal, no matter where it is. Though, it's worth having a look and trying to move closer to that plan.

The hardest part of applying for jobs is all the stuff you have to physically do like writing your CV and doing cover letters. They say the best way to get an interview is to tailor them both to fit the job you are applying for and to not send out the same all the time. Which is fine, but I get tried of doing that quickly. Plus, I hate having to fill in forms! This is basically your CV that they want but they get you to expand on key parts of it and I can spend maybe 3-4 hours doing something like that. Then you have to look through all the job ads across different places and apply for ones that you know you tick all the boxes for and also some which you might not get but it's still worth applying for. 

I was told at some point that job hunting is like an actual job and it feels that way to me. I guess I should be grateful that everything is online now and it's easy to just email your CV and to type out the forms. I'd struggle if I had to hand write everything and walk around going into places to give my CV in. Though there's still no harm in that because you can get luckily. - It's not worked for me though! 

Yeah, so at the moment, I've applied for 30 jobs or there about and I've had one interview which was today. It went okay, but I'm not sure the job is suitable for me. Seemed like too much demand and pressure, which might sound odd, but I got to look after my health. I'm still waiting to hear back, so for now I'm going to look at more jobs and try and not spend any money.      

I know I'll find something eventually and I can already see how a new job would be good for me - more money, better hours, more stable. But still leaving The Factory behind is going to be tough. It made me who I am today, in a strange way and it proved that I could hold down a full time job and I'm capable of doing many different tasks. It's like there's a piece of me there now. It's just a shame they are making me move on.

At least it's going to be there still and I can go in and see everyone and maybe volunteer again if I have the time. So, that knowledge should help. I need to try harder to turn away now and think more about what I really want to do and how to get there.

I just need to stay positive.

Please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Images from Pixabay.  

September Life Update; Flash back To August: Sweden Trip

 Hi everyone,

I know this post is late, but lots of things have been happening. I still wanted to write about my weekend holiday to Sweden! This was the first time I've been out of the UK since 1999 when I was 12 and went to New Zealand for a summer. There's been a few reasons why this has been, but that's not important here.

My boyfriend invited me to go as his dad's second wife and their young daughter have a summer house there. I was a bit unsure and at first decided no, but then I changed my mind and decided to give it ago. What helped was the fact I wouldn't have to pay for anything! So, I got my passport sorted and my boyfriend booked the flights. I've no problems flying but due to my anxiety I wasn't sure how I'd be.

Things went fine, though I did get patted down by security and having to go through the body scanner! (turns out the metal under wiring of my bra was to blame!) I was also worried about my suitcase getting lost! Paranoia whilst traveling is like double the normal amount! I did get my suitcase back on the other side, so it was all fine. The flight itself was okay and kinda remind me of a roller coaster when it goes up. I'm glad the flight was short though!

When we arrived in Sweden it was pretty late, they are an hour ahead so it was about 10pm. It was dark, so I didn't get to see a lot but what I did learn was that all the roads over there are really quiet even during the day his dad said. We were traveling maybe 5-10 minutes without seeing another car. the drive was an hour and a half and though I was tried, I was too excited to sleep.

We got to the house and had a tour, the house was really cute and big then we went to bed. In the morning, I had a good look around and you can see the front of the house below. They had a large kitchen across from a living room/dinning room then there was an outside deck area and a corridor running down the side led to the bathroom and three bedrooms. The bedroom we had was a good size and looked over a patch of the back garden.

I was hoping to see some deer or even elk during our stay but I didn't see any!  

From the house its a minute or two walk to the lake side,- you can see it in the cover photo but also further below in the last section of this post. My boyfriend's dad left the area natural, so you have to go through some tall trees and grass before walking on the getty and being on the lake. It's really pretty and quiet out there. My boyfriend and I often escaped there to have some time alone.


On our first day, we went to what use to be Sweden's royal family's summer castle. I had in made the British castle style, - large, dark stone walls, tall towers, twisting staircases and the feeling of being in a medieval movie. So, I was shocked to see a manor house instead! It was only a small place, with lots of history behind it and due to the lack of money it was never finished nor fully furnished, even though like 4 or 5 queens lived there. The grounds were very pretty and the weather held out.

The next day we went on a tour of a few places, but one of the most important and interesting was
The Ramsund Carving which is the legend of Sigurd the dragon slayer carved into a stone in the viking age. It was looking very faded and the bright sunshine through the pine trees didn't help. There was a lot of information about the legend and the history of the area, but I can't recall much now. It was very interesting and I wish I could have spent more time here and researching the legend.

That evening my boyfriend and I took a walk around the area where is Dad's house is. It's mostly the countryside are outside of Eskilstuna and there's not much out there. It reminded me of the countryside back home, but it was a lot quieter. It had been rainy and overcast for most of the day, but it was an okay evening. It was nice to walk and have a chat though we just talked about how nice Sweden is!

I really like that all the buildings and most are painted red and stand out. I learnt the reason for this is that from a distance you think it's red brick which Swedish people believed would make people think they were rich! Close up though, you can see that most of the building are made of wood.  

I love the photo of the clouds rolling back in.

We took a lot of selfies!

On our last full day we went to Parkin Zoo. I thought this would be a nice way to finish our break and it meant we could go somewhere all together but not have to stick together like we had to do when visiting other places. Being in the zoo reminded me more of home which I thought would be good if I was feeling homesick as it would take my mind off things, but actually Sweden as whole kinda felt like home, so I shouldn't have worried!

We saw lots of animals at the zoo, below are my favorites;  

This wild cat is real, honest! It was just watching another catching a cricket and so was standing very still. 

Lizards are so cool because they are laid back. 

These wild dogs were awesomeness to watch because they were so active. I've not seen them before either and I really liked how they seemed to be a cross between a wolf and a fox.

Otters and meerkats are the stable and stars of any zoo. They are small, cute and fascinating to watch.

Capybaras are one of boyfriend's favorite animals and though I joked about him over this, I like them too!

Us with some lemurs watching us. 

Even though we were tried after a full day out, we decided go down to the lake in the evening to see the sunset. I had been wanting go but the weather had been against us. I'm glad it was warm and sunny for our last day because watching the sunset over the lake was so romantic!

We took lots of photos and had a really nice time. It was a great way to end our last day in Sweden.  

Overall, we had a great time and I really liked Sweden. I'd like to go back some day. As for doing more traveling, well I've my list and now I need some more money!