I couldn't understand why people arguing with me about my own life made me so angry. It wasn't like the path I had chosen was wrong...or was it?
I had done the research. I had weighed those pros and cons that were important to me. The life I was choosing seemed like the best one out there. Then my mom brought up a good point and we did some facts and figures. This is why I always run my plans by other people. Not because I like to hear myself talk about me, I do know how to listen to others, but because two or six heads is always better than one.
Cost of Living (You can skip the section if you don't want the details. Just know that I could afford just me, but without much hope of any kind of savings and I'd have to wear out my body to do it.)
I didn't look at the numbers beyond what the average trainer made and about 30,000 seemed like a good enough sum for a single person who might want to rent an apartment or get a car.
Here's the actual break-down for a working single person living in a one-bedroom apartment for a month.
Needs Per Month
Rent ~ 600
Food ~ 120
Internet ~ 30
Clothes ~ 30
Supplies ~ 30
Bike ~ 20
Unknown Expenses ~ 100
Total ~ 950/month
Wants Per Month
Movies ~ 10
Take Out ~ 20
Unknown ~ 50
Service Projects ~ 20
Car
- gas ~ 140
- insurance ~ ~ ~ 120
- car wash ~ 10
Total 370
Grand Total = 1,320/month
Which means my costs will be at least 15,840/year. Still not bad on a 30,000/year income. Until mom pointed out the difference between gross and net and that my costs were listed without taxes and I hadn't considered cell bills or other expenses like that. So basically we had to double the figures.
To live I would have to earn between 26,160 or 32,000 per year.
Again, not difficult. That was the basic earning anyway. Not much elbow room for savings, but I could still do it, so I told myself...until I decided to research how much work I'd have to do in order to earn 30,000 as a trainer.
Trainers Pay
To do this I took actual figures from different health clubs. These results are not typical since they do vary by location and trainer experience. This is only research done from the perspective of being a gym employee since that's how I had chosen to get started.
Earnings per hour for personal training/Earnings per hour class instruction
Golds Gym
16~25/na
YMCA
10~18/8~30
24-hour Fitness
8~24/18~25
Curves
9~10/7~10
Lifetime Fitness
21~26/na
If I were to use my earlier research I can calculate how much I need to earn at each facility per week to make my yearly needs.
26,160 = 503.08 per week 32,000 = 615.38 per week
For the sake of reading space if I were to earn the average pay I'd have to be sweating in the gym anywhere from 25-50 hours a week. From what I know about body physiology that's a lot of stress and strain on a body that still needs time to get that fit. I'd be a worn out body by...well, I guess my 30's and 40's since there a dramatic drop around there of people who personally train for a living.
But That's Irrelevant Compared to this Deciding Factor
I'm religious and I believe that you can get down on your knees and ask God about life and receive answers. Of course he doesn't always answer because more often than not you've chosen a good path anyway and the answer come more as a spiritual shrug and a "it's up to you" kind of feeling. Rarely do I get specific answers to my questions. In fact, if I do all the research first I'm more likely to get a "well, sure that's one good path" or better "yeah, that'll work, go for it," kind of answers. He wants us to choose good paths, after that, I don't think he cares too much about the details of which good path we take.
Which is what I expected about four months ago when I brought this plan to Him. I was shocked at how wrong this felt. It was like someone had opened up my chest and put a worm-hole inside it.
As someone who is rarely told spiritually "no" my reaction was understandable.
WHY NOT!!!?!!???!!!!?!???!??!??!
I've done the research. It's something that I would enjoy that would still allow me to be a mom. What's wrong with this picture? (Course now that I think about it this whole experience is a small confirmation that it's not the research that produces the feelings of yes or no. I had really really wanted to be a personal trainer.)
Course, if it's rare to get such absolute answers it's even rarer to receive an explanation. But I'm sure it has nothing to do with the financial situation, but a spiritual one. Something in this job description isn't good for my soul. Not everyone's, just mine. It was a path that would lead me the wrong way. And I may never know the what, how, or why of it.
It's a testament to how stubborn I could be though. I managed to push this answer to the back-burner for four months and felt like Martin Harris whenever I checked up on it.
Needless to say I've been kind of spiraling after this. I like having a plan, and having no plan about how I can become independent after I graduate college made me very nervous.
Stay tuned for part 2: The Refiners Fire
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