this all would be so much easier if I was independantly wealthy

Henry Cavill is distracting...amiright?

So, I'm currently on a two-month hiatus from my regularly paying gig in the world of theatrical costumes.  My plan for this time was to: a) really focus on my yoga study b) teach yoga c) figure out  how I am going to transition into making a living in this field, or at least try to come up with some sort of plan or list of goals and sense of a timeline.  So far I am about 3/4 of the way through this hiatus.  I can happily say that I've been doing well and for the most part, staying focused on the big picture. But my approach and mind has been a bit scattered: one day I'll study kids yoga, the next I'll spend some time studying restorative...maybe I'll research upcoming therapeutic teacher trainings for this fall? ...but how will I pay for it?  ...what about reading some books on personal finance...but which one? ...and I need to network... and I need business cards and a webpage... and hey- what about actually doing some yoga?  Oh yah, I can't really, because I'm injured.... GRR! ...And hey, also, I'm single and I'd like to meet and date someone awesome...but I want it to be easy! HA.  (actually, I don't really care that much about that right now, which is refreshing)

Anyway, though it has been tempting to stray from my goals and just go out and socialize and date and such, I am devoted to seeing this through.  I would be really pissed at myself if I just wasted all of this time partying or running around NYC, blowing all of my cash and getting off track.  I'm aware of how important this time is for me and I won't let it just slip by.


Over the past several weeks,  I've been making a lot of progress and have been growing as a yoga teacher, but I have often felt stuck and as if I have nowhere to turn.  Though I have a lovely auxiliary support system, I don't have a mentor, or someone that I can check in with regularly that will let me know that I am making smart choices or help to keep me on track and give me  advice.  And I find that I don't know where to focus my energy.  Yes, I have a couple of very dear friends that ask about my progress, and I am thankful to have them to discuss ideas and I value their feedback and encouragement, but they aren't yoga teachers (nor are they costumers) so they can't answer all of my questions.  Plus, people have to live their own lives and probably don't want to hear about my stresses when we hang out...I barely want to talk about all of it because it's so complicated!  (Which is why I have this blog, so much easier to write it all out!)
Anyway, today after a mini freakout with a modicum of tears, I picked myself up and headed to the coffee shop...It was time to snap out of it and make shit happen. I decided that I needed to get all of this stuff out of my head and form a visual plan of attack (or more accurately, rewrite my original)  which flowered into a 2 page list complete with lots of arrows and a couple of circled proper nouns. While I've had the book, The Yogi Entrepreneur: A Guide to Earning a Mindful Living Through Yoga by Darren Main for some time, I haven't had the chance to really sit down with it as well as my laptop and my notebook and my calendar all together...all necessary tools in my plan-making practice.  The book was useful, as was the google machine and facebook.

One idea I came up with today that simplifies things is that instead of spending money on more continued ed training, I can save that money and structure my career planning like a syllabus, focusing on one or two areas a week.  I'll train myself in all of these areas that I have only a basic knowledge of thus far- but I'll be serious about it and treat it like school, give myself deadlines and goals for each week.   Maybe I work on social media/marketing myself one week: business cards/flyers/webpage/blogging/emails--- and setting all of that up so that it's easy and organized.  (yes, I know all of that will probably take more than a week to teach myself how to build a web page, but I'm going to keep going with this idea)  Maybe the next week's focus is on Money- personal, business, stuff like learning about investing and saving and retirement (yah, that should definitely be longer than one week) Maybe one week I focus on insurance (health and liability) and legal stuff...And the next I research yoga studios and teachers that I want to practice and teach with... all the while I continue to teach at least one class a week, and maintain my own practice...oh yah and work at my job...and continue healing my shoulder...and maybe try to have a bit of a social life so I'm not totally depressed
OK, it's still overwhelming...but that's OK because it's less overwhelming than it was 6 hours ago.

  Mainly because I've already gotten a good start on said list.  I think I may have found a health insurance option that actually looks promising. Considering all of the (thankfully minor) health issues I've had lately, that was a pretty high priority point. I reached out to friends via facebook and got an amazingly helpful email from one of my awesome costume design grad-school classmates. Not only did she tell me what she knew about an insurance option, but offered more advice on starting your own business.   Thanks Rebecca Frey, owner of Seek New York, I'm sure I'll be asking you for advice again once I get through some of these items on my giant 2 page todo list!