Has anyone looked back at how they were a few years ago and saw a marked improvement? It can be in terms of your lifestyle, yourself/personality, or both. Does anyone have any cool or inspirational stories to share?

I'll go first. I like to think of myself as a constantly changing, improving person. In recent years, there were two times that I worked my ass off to markedly improve my situation. The first occured in early 2005, when I started dancing. I had finished college a year prior and had a terrible time finding a decent job in my field. I had worked all sorts of bullshit low pay "McJobs" and they didn't pay me enough to cover basic bills(food, cell phone, car insurance, gas), let alone my own apartment. My family was evil and couldn't relate to my situation, so they kicked me out and left me pretty much guilt-tripping/suicide-threatening my friend M--k into letting me couchsurf at his place for a bit. I had debt up to my forehead and my credit score stunk worse than a yeast infection. I had contemplated stripping before but told myself that I would only succomb to it if I was really desperate, and I kept trying to convince myself that I was NOT complete desperate just for the sake of giving myself fake hopes/esteem, but now I realized that I truly hated my life and where I was in my life. So I started dancing, and here's the improvements I made:

- I paid off ALL of my credit card debts in only 3 months after I started dancing!
- I paid off the outstanding college tuition I owed(didn't qualify for financial aide), so I was finally able to get the degree that I'd already completed.
- I got my own apartment and a new sportscar. Later I also purchased the vintage van I'd been pining after my whole life!
- I raised my credit score over 200 pts in a little over a year(yep, I went from a "stinky" 450 in 2/2005 to a solid 675 in 6/2006).
- After I got my own apartment, I kept upgrading from living in my city's worst ghetto, to an only slightly ghetto hood, to a secure attractive borough right outside the city border.
- When my parents saw that I was doing financially well and didn't have credit card debt anymore, they reconciled with me. (they didn't know I was dancing though!)
- I ditched all the "friends" who'd used me for rides or didn't help me when I was going through hard times after being kicked out. I met up again with all of the good friends who I'd kinda separated from during the time that I first started dancing, since I was working 14 hr days to pay for shit.
- I got breast implants, which I'd always wanted!

The second occured about a year after I started stripping, when I started to get burned out on it and really wish I had a full-time "real" job. (After all, what was the point of going to college and paying all that money for a degree if I wasn't going to use it?? It's not like college was actually "fun" for me, since I was working my butt off studying for 3 hard majors...if anything, college was some of the suckiest years of my life!) By that time, the money in the strip clubs was starting to decrease and so was my patience, which made the money really bad for me. I was annoyed and career-wise I felt lost. I lacked relevant experience for a "real" job + I was really shy and therefore horrible with selling myself at interviews. Here is a great example of how I felt during this time:



Two years later, I see the following improvements:
- I have a full-time 9-5 job in admin/management!
- I was able to stop dancing a year and a half ago and keep my bills sustained without having to go back to the job I disliked(dancing).
- Admittedly I quit dancing before I was financially ready to do so(I was fed up with it, and I had a bunch of bad money nights that made dancing totally not worth it for me). The only other job I had at the time was a part-time low-pay office job which was more of a way to gain experience than a money source. So unfortunately I had to live on my credit cards for a few months until I was able to secure a job that was full-time. I racked up a lot of credit card debt on one card but I paid off that card in full a year later.
- I was able to land serving jobs to provide additional income, such as the part-time serving job I have at a strip club these days. Personally I like working in a strip club so much better when I'm not dancing!
- I became a lot more assertive. I stand up for myself to the managers, I put asinine nonspending customers in their place when they try to diss me or others, and I don't let anyone use me for rides.

Okay now how about your stories?