Since I graduated high school I’ve worked in a string of fast food restaurants. I became the drive-thru queen pretty quickly. The job was largely unrewarding.In fact, the first day there I was thrown on the drive-thru and I tried my best to take orders, hand out the food, make the drinks, and operate the cash register.

I felt so overworked and underpaid.

When I moved out on my own, I was given a lot of cook books and health books, showing me proper ways to live a healthy lifestyle. I tried to follow the rules, but the fact remained that I didn’t have time or the budget to live a healthy life. When I lived across the street from Fresno State, I got off work at 3:00 a.m. and I had a class the next morning at 8:00 a.m.

What was the quickest way to get the nourishment I needed? The answer: I didn’t eat. I went to school and snacked on something small later on. The snacks were usually small and very unhealthy.

I never had any lessons on how to live and thrive on a student budget. And I know I am not alone.

Going back to working with fast food, wiping tables, cleaning ice cream machines, and burning my hands on chili so people can eat. All of it had a huge effect on what I was putting in my mouth and how I was spending my money.

I got the food at a discount, and the temptation was there every time I was told to go on break. It was psychologically impossible for me not to think that I was doing a smart thing when I spent my money getting a discounted meal.

I feel that I’ve gotten wiser. Third time does the trick, and I don’t find myself eating the grease filled French fries during my break.

In order for me to do that, I really had to see what it was costing me. I’m not getting help with school because I no longer qualify for financial aid, I’ve been paying rent since I was nineteen, help from family is out of the picture, and the only thing that has been getting me by is the part time jobs I feel like I have snagged.

So having a workable student budget is at the top of my priorities, and I also had to see that being so stressed out is not my fault. In high school I was taught how to get into a university, live in the comfort of a dorm room, or get into school and still live with my family.

Sadly, the lifestyle of a student that attends a community college was overlooked. So when I was sent out on my own in the real world…I was thrown into life just like I was thrown onto the drive-thru on my first day. I had a thousand different things thrown at me at once and I feel overworked and underpaid.