Good day everyone, Ben here and today I’m going to talk a bit about what I’ve been up to. Long story short, I’ve been working too much. For those who don’t know. Up until Feb 1st 2024, I’ve been working a full time night job in Scarborough, while dancing part time with a dance company in downtown toronto, teaching at a dance school in North York, taking Chinese lessons 3 days a week and I say that to say, it’s been one of main reasons why I haven’t had the will power and energy to produce content for any of my socials.  But I believe this is the end of the era in my life where I do work that doesn’t directly support my career goals as a Performing artist. So no more getting into debt and having to take on many unrelated jobs to pay it off. From now on I believe everything I do will be a direct personal interest of mine or a career decision. Thankfully my contract has ended and although I still need to save for some travels I plan on doing soon this year, I’m going to use my time until then to give some energy on these interwebs. And if you’re wondering why I sound like this, it’s because I like doing some accents and this happens to be one that I’m not horrible at.

SO, I also believe it’s the end of an ERA, well, because I showed up and did what I came to do and now it’s time for something new. After my trip from South Korea about a year and a half ago, I had got myself into a lot of credit card debt and actually I was in debt to some of my family members and friends.  I flew to Korea more or less spontaneously. I made the decision only about two weeks before I actually flew out and although I had some money saved… it was not enough and there was so much I wanted to do that I couldn’t and so much I did, that I shouldn’t have and that put myself in a financial position that made my ‘stay’ there and return difficult. Fast forward to me being back in Canada, I stayed with my college mate for a few months and then moved in with my Grandma to save some more money. 

However, it was not easy. To pay that money back I took on a lot more opportunities and work that I wouldn’t have if I was not in so much debt but I knew why I needed to do it. I wanted financial freedom and I don’t work in a traditional field where income is consistent so I had to find new streams of income. When I returned I continued dancing with one company, teaching, I got a part time retail job and took on other small dance jobs.  It was all helping but the stress from working so much made me develop some bad habits of eating out. I didn’t mention it but I was in South Korea for almost 3 months and during that time I didn’t even eat McDonald’s once but once I got back to Canada and my lifestyle shifted, so did my eating habits.  I came back from Korea in September 2022 and it’s now February 1st and those bad habits are still there. Thankfully because I dance, I burn most of it off but I have noticed some gains not to mention the fact that fast food is just not healthy.

Anyways, this busy lifestyle was taking a toll on my health, my habits, my friendships (which weren’t doing so great in the first) and finances until ONE DAY! About 4 months after an audition I got and shoot I went to, I got a payout of a significant amount of money… a couple grand that allowed me to finally pay off my VISA card. Now I had been working as if I wasn’t going to get a huge payout but Thank GOd I still got it because I needed it. So I paid off my debts in November 2023 and since then, it’s honestly been difficult not to spend the little I have because I have big goals but I also like some expensive stuff.

And that brings me to where I am now. Since my trip to Korea until now, I’ve experienced a lot that I’d love to unpack in video form but I believe it’s more important to use this new found financial freedom to better plan and assess how I’m going to go into this New Year. 2022 and 2023 I really had goals to learn Korean, get out of debt, develop some of my performance skills while gaining more confidence. Honestly 2022 felt like I was moving towards something and it was exciting since I was dancing a lot for fun, I had moved out from my parents house and I was finally going to South Korea and telling people a little bit about it when I got back. 2023 however honestly feels like a blur cuz I was only working, dance felt like work, work was work. I was literally doing it all one day at a time and letting the goals of months in the future push me.

And now it’s 2024, it’s already February and I’m excited because although I know my night job might ask me to come back and I know I could use the money, from now until I travel again early this year, I’m going to focus on 3 things; My health, Being a great Dancer, Singing with being a Pop Artist in mind and learning Chinese. Oh and a bonus… being authentic. Why those 3 slash 4 things? You’ll see. In the famous words of ‘jasminetan’ “okay I love always BYE!”