Will Living A Secular Life Lift Me Out Of Poverty?

[RenaissanceWoman]

One other career to consider if Bhim's suggestions don't resonate with you: marketing.

 

Since I am a package designer, I work with marketing managers every day. My largest client is a gigantic apparel manufacturer. These large corporations have "diversity policies", and they would scoop you up in a heart beat if you have decent grades. This really annoyed me last year when they got rid of an older white guy I really liked and replaced him with a young Asian woman, but hey -- you can take advantage of this!

 

I should be ashamed to spell this out, but there are actually two black women who are fairly high up in the company, and I can tell you, they are not that good at their jobs. But they got their foot in the door, took advantage of the free MBA program the company pays for (holy shit, what a deal!), and they moved up. They are smart enough to surround themselves with other people who are good at their jobs, so that makes them look good.

 

The Hispanic and African-American markets are often un-tapped at some companies, so you could fill a need and help them open new markets with new angles to reach a whole new customer base in a better way.

 

Meet with your statistics or marketing professor, and get them to help you put together a great paper on how to use Twitter or Facebook or whatever to market to young African-American professionals. Show trends and numbers and such. How is it different from marketing to white professionals? Then use this paper as part of your resume when applying for internships or jobs later. You need to know something that businesses want to know. Show them that they "need" you!

 

Maybe throw in a course on graphic design, or web site design, or something, just to show that you have covered the art side of marketing too. Your advisers can help.

 

Ask around with local large companies. (Ask for the human resources department.) They may have internships for you. Even if it doesn't pay well (or at all), an internship will give you a huge advantage. They might even hire you later when you finish your degree. And they might have a free MBA program for employees, and you'll be set for life. (The program at the company I'm referencing is with a very expensive and prestigious private university in our city, which I'm sure you've heard of -- and which I could never dream of affording!)

 

My brother is an engineer and works for the government. He found out after he was hired that they have a free master's program, where he could take a year off work, still get paid his salary, and get a free master's degree. What?! His coworkers tease him because he already had a master's degree when he started. Rats! Wish we'd have known!

 

Make this your new year's resolution: find out stuff.

[moanareina]

I think people already gave you good advice here.

 

So all I want to add...

 

I had been living on a welfare program sorta after graduating from graphic design school and could not find a job for more than a year and unemployment insurance would stop paying me any more. It was really hard because I did not get really a lot of insurance money and now I got even less...less then I could imagine to live on. But as I accepted the situation, no longer resisted it in my heart, I found ways to save money. I was even able to put some aside and I am still wondering about how I did that. But I did. It really came down to: What do I really need to live RIGHT NOW? And I cut back on small things here and there.

 

And I eat normal.

There was a woman at a program I participated that gives long term unemployed people the possibility to learn new skills or to keep on with the skills they already have and had worked with, so they would keep staying in the working process (and hiring people could see you where not just lazy and staying home etc...). This woman had two kids and she worked there way more then she would have had to. But you could not talk her out of it, even though there was absolutely no benefit to it except of her not feeling as guilty as if she would have worked less for getting welfare. And she was really skinny, weared totally worn out cloth and looked awful. I thought it would be difficult for her to find a job with this appearance. So I think if you do not care for yourself, not eating good and healthy meals and not caring about your appearance can keep you in poverty too though it is not the cause and there is no guarantee to get out of it just because you take care of yourself. 

 

So philosophy wise I think: Accept the situation for what it is and stop being upset about it, wishing for it to change.

Then: Use the energy that you invested in mourning about your situation now to find out what you can do about it.

And treat yourself with respect. Don't focus on getting out of poverty but on getting yourself a career and a life you enjoy.

 

Also what I think is crucial and Christianity is working against is:

Find out who you are, what you want to, what your real skills are and you really enjoy doing. Don't feel selfish or guilty if it is something that does not directly benefit anyone or is only about you getting yourself a career. You are worth it.

Muse about what you would do if money was not an issue. And if there is something, start doing it or work towards it. (Thats actually the place where I am right now and the longer I am pondering it, the more I find new old passions and I am trying to integrate them in my life. If they will help me to finally get out of my job I have and get more salary will show, but at least I start enjoying myself and I think thats a big part of being successful...and its more fun that way).

 

I really like this short speech of Alan Watts, it sums it up about philosophically.

 

[Llwellyn]

You did not waste your time by writing that long post, RW.  I read every word and thought about all the things you wrote.  Thanks for all the good advice.  I spent the last couple of days clearing out things from my house -- putting some in the garbage, bringing others to Goodwill, in part because of inspiration from your post.  Getting rid of things you don't use actually makes you richer and free-er.

 

My partner and I do buy food at expensive organic grocery stores though, because we need to shop there in order to avoid poisonous ingredients:

 

Monosodium glutamate

High fructose corn syrup

Autolyzed yeast extract

Hydrogenated vegetable oils

Artificial flavors and sweeteners and colors

Refined flour and sugar

 

I do believe that a good diet is worth the money spent, and a healthy body is the most basic component of human welfare.  "You are what you eat."  Good health makes wealth possible and worthwhile.

 

I make my lunches and coffee at home and bring them to work.  I figure this saves me about $10 a day, which amounts to about $2500 a year ($10 a day x 250 work days a year).

[falemon]

I think enough people have given you advice on how you can think about solving your situation, so I'm not sure this can add, though I'll say this: if you have read every post in this thread (whether before or after reading this line), I have 100% faith that you will succeed, because that is the attitude you will require.

 

My caveat is that, there are no guarantees. Accept that first. Accept the worst case scenario. Let it sink and make your peace with it. If you want to succeed you will want to seek out a coach to guide your development as well as invest in personal development. You can't afford to have blind spots. Know yourself deeply and ensure you approach your new goal as a developed individual.

 

You can't afford for habits you learned from your environment that you are unaware of to let you down.

 

And also know that (unless you are mentally retarded) you are capable of anything anyone else is capable of. Whether it takes you longer the first time it is possible. Your brain is a big ass learning machine. You can learn to be creative, to behave as an entrepreneur, to use long eloquent words with ease and to manage accounting (should you have to).

 

You may want to learn to speak the language of the city. You've learned how to speak the tone and accent of where you grew up, but it doesn't need to stop there. You will also have to learn customs of the higher echelons (or whatever level you wish to attain).

 

Your development ought to be psychological, developmental and even behavioural. If it sounds daunting, relax, as you will eventually touch upon many subjects, just be prepared for what may feel, at first, like a massive struggle. But don't worry, that's just what it feels like to change gear. Once you are on a higher gear it's smooth sailing, but with each gear change comes another struggle. If you ever watched LOST, think of series 1's "The Moth" episode (episode 7).

 

I'll also remind you that you may want to favour sudden changes. Some say that gradual life changes fall victim to homeostasis - the natural self regulating nature of complex systems which produces a counter action to any small deviation. For example if you try to lose weight to eating a little bit less and doing a little exercise, your body will react by making you more hungry and feeling more exhausted. But if you hit the gym hard you'll stop feeling resistance after the first 15 minutes and the rest will be plain sailing (no matter how hard as you've broken the ice).

 

Now I don't know your exact situation, but your first priority is to manage your finance. If you're in debt, just ensure that you are managing that. If you can't afford it, that's okay, just make sure you are on the ball and in control of your execution of it. Moving can help you get into gear, though it has the unfortunate con of distancing you from the support you may need (and also may not be an option).

 

Surround yourself with people who are achieving what you wish to do. Join their circles and make friends with them. You will be much more likely to succeed

 

Oh: one more thing, you'll probably have a better result if you focus on going the route of entrepreneurism. It allows you to create your own job wherever and whenever you are. I've survived for 4 years just through freelance work that I don't even advertise after I had to leave work following health issues.

 

*** I do apologise for the lack of structure and verbosity, hopefully it will be of use to you.