College may not pay

College and the cost some times do not pay for themselves. A local community college offered and career program called Licensed Mental Health Technician. I was to be more educated than an LPN with nursing skills and have ample mental health training to be able to work in a psychiatric hospital. This was to be a glorified mental health nurse and the future of mental health jobs.

I spent $15,000 and for a few years was able to pass medication but it limited me to only working in State hospitals in Kansas. Unknown to me the State of Kansas changed the rules and my license was no longer worth anything. I started out making $5.50 an hour which was not expected after spending time and money going to college.

I then decided to go for an AAS in Communication Design. Now the price tag of my education was $25,000. After graduating I could not find a job in design unless I went on to get a BA. Instead I returned to mental health and before I knew it I was 45 years of age and not richer from all the schooling I had. I am still trying to pay the college loans off.

In this economy I am back to making $10 an hour and my dreams of higher education and more money were crushed along the way. I returned to school to get a Substance Abuse Counselor license and before I finished the rules of the State had changed and I was the poorer for it and deeper in debt.

Be careful before getting a college education and really explore the degree or type of program. Make sure it will surpass time as now I am in debt and have no way to live and pay the student loans. I still have my dreams but I now realize that spending all the money to get an education has really not paid well and put me deeper into debt.

Colleges will tell you anything to get you to pay the high tuition cost but do your own research. Now they say I need to get a BA or MBA. At age 50 I am not even able to pay what I owe for loans anyway so why would I take this chance now. All the time and money spent plus a bad economy equals and the belief that more education means more money. Don't believe it! I know many people that make more money than me and have only a high school education.

They do not work with people and this field really pays very little. This is sad but true about our society as we care more about things then we do people. A lot of it is who you know and not what you can do. It's a hard time to live in right now so be careful on what area of higher education you decide to pursue and do not believe all you hear. This American Dream has changed a lot since the economy is bad.

Living Healthy by Ridding Yourself of Bad Habits

There are numerous products and programs for losing weight or how to quit smoking offering everything to herbs, pills and potions to drastic medical procedures. This industry makes billions of dollars each year from people that really desire to be healthy again by finding the magic cure that will help them lose weight or quit smoking. I hate to burst your bubble but it takes more than magic vitamins and or herbs, it takes changing your thinking patterns

Unfortunately you must make sure you are successful at changing the learned behavior and balancing it with the right product if there is one. Purchasing their product means you want to change which is good because half of the battle is admitting it. The easiest way is to never start or try anything that you could get addicted to.

Prevention costs money but in the long run it saves you money and time. If you have addiction in your family then your odds go up tremendously but the choice you make could that could have long term consequences is up to you. If you have seen people addicted then you know how hard it is to stop.
 
Finding the right product for you takes a lot of research from you and consulting your doctor is very important prior to starting any new dieting program or getting medicine that can help but that is not all. Behavior modification is really something that must be added or your attempts can result in failure.

This is no ones fault as the companies are there to sell products that can help and assume you know everything else you must do. I am not an authority on what works or doesn't. Making changes in your behavior is the most important and the least expensive way to change your negative behaviors. Sometimes the combination of their products and behavior modification will help you achieve a more permanent solution.

Maybe you should try to change something that has nothing to do with the main problem that you have at first to build confidence.During lent instead of giving up something I added something which was to pick up the Bible everyday and read it for at least 20 minutes. So far I have been successful at doing this everyday for 3 weeks now. This has nothing to do with quitting smoking or does it?

Practicing to do things that are good for you in any area of your life is changing a pattern of thinking. I feel that adding something and sticking to it remotely is helping me gain more focus and self control. Being healthy is a choice just do not go overboard. We all have something we want to change but it helps you physically, spiritual and mentally save you money in the long run and probably live longer..


Saving money in this economy is very important and the things that are preventable like eating too much, smoking too much or drinking too much can save you a fortune. I do not have any PHD or big initials to impress you as to why you should listen to me other than I have worked in mental health for over 20 years and these things I tell you come from my life and work experience.

One valuable thing I can tell you that was learned by clients and my personal experience is that once you admit you are addicted or something controls your life you feel guilty the next time you let your addiction take control over your life again. The words of wisdom from a client I had was, "using drugs was never the same and not fun anymore after admitting she/he was addicted".