I know it's not a real word.
But it's the right word to describe what I'm going to talk about here. Let me define it: bear with me.
Trudge (v.) - walk slowly and with heavy steps, typically because of exhaustion or harsh conditions. (n.) - a difficult or laborious walk.
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Drudgery (n.) - hard, menial, or dull work.
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Trudgery (n.) - a slow, laborious journey full of hard, menial tasks and/or dull work, typically involving exhaustion and/or harsh conditions.
You know what I'm talking about now, don't you? You're welcome, you now have a word for it!
After graduating college, myself and many of my friends found ourselves in quite a bit of debt with student loans, one of the worst job markets in a very long time, and without much hope for financial freedom, let alone a chance to build our lives up into the wondrous things we believed a college education would facilitate. Don't get me wrong, I learned a fuck ton in school, I just wish I didn't have to get in crippling debt to do it.
I spent essentially the entire summer after graduation job hunting for employment in my field of study before eventually bills started coming due. When the warm fuzzy feelings subsided and the degree was framed, I began working at Buffalo Wild Wings in my parents' town as a server so that I could start making my loan payments. I worked there for only a few months before I moved back to Bloomington, IN where I had attended school to be a server/bartender at a local pub. I did this for two reasons: 1. The pay was better. 2. My college friends were all mostly still here. This is where I first developed my idea of making the most of the trudgery.
I could have made the best financial decision to stay rent free with my parents, working as a server for a national chain while continuing to look for better employment and beginning to make payments on my loans. But this would have come at a heavy personal cost. I was feeling as though I had lost a good chunk of my independence, living in a situation and location that did not suit me, and being distanced from my very dear friends.
You're going to have to pay back your student loans, pay rent, keep the lights on and buy groceries. Unexpected costs like broken down cars and doctor's bills are going to rear their ugly heads. You're likely going to have to work a job you at least moderately don't like and are overqualified for, if not full on hate. If you're going to go through that no matter what, might you as well go through it somewhere you love or surrounded by people that make you happy and bring some positivity to the situation, right??
This is ultimately why I made the decision to move to Colorado. I hate Indiana. It's a state full of very unhappy people with nothing fun to do, long cloudy winters, and zero respect for others or the outdoors. I'm sure you've heard of the place. It's been in the news lately for the amazing laws that they pass. I've hated it for a long time, but stuck around for many reasons. When those reasons became less and less important, or they themselves moved to Colorado, why on Earth would I stay somewhere that offered me very little?
People who know me can attest. I really like being outside and being active. I like going on adventures and exploring new places. Colorado is obviously a great place to do that. I also love my friends very dearly, so when two of my closest decided they were trucking it out West, it seemed only natural to do what I had done a year earlier; leave to go where the trudgery would be more enjoyable.
And it has been more enjoyable here. I found employment still not in a field that I'm passionate about, but that treats me well and pays me fairly. I'm near my dearest friends and have had the chance to make new ones who appreciate the same things I do. I get to enjoy myself outdoors most every weekend, a form of entertainment that keeps me healthy and not completely broke. Its easy to save money when the best things to do around you are all free. This has made the trudgery more enjoyable for me, and for Corbin too. We pay our bills, buy our groceries, curse the automobile gods when we pop a tire, and slowly but surely pay our student debt back.
The point of this is, we all are going through the trudgery. Some of us will go through it longer and it will be more difficult than for others. But, there is no reason to not make the trudgery more enjoyable while you trudge through it. Corbin and I will soon have both of our student debt paid off. We try to manage our money responsibly while splurging on occasion. We're living in a janky old house with no counters because we have a garden, and that makes us happy. We're buying a truck and saving up for retirement. We're exhausting our savings on sporadic long trips back home to see family, 'cause they're important. We're trudging and are working hard to get where we want to be, but we're enjoying it, dammit, and so should you.