This was not easy for me because so much of my challenge stems from my belief that my income is perpetually less than my expenses. There is this never-ending GAP.
However, life isn't easy, and we have to face the challenges it throws at us. The answers aren't easy either. First of all, I need to stop spending so much. Sales are my arch-enemy; I can't turn down a good sale on something that I like or use frequently. For example, today I received an email that the Vera Bradley "Morgan" purse is being retired, and, as a result, it is heavily discounted. Whoa... a good-size Vera for $18?!? Can't miss that! Boom... $25 gone. That has to stop. I need to grasp the concept that I can only have what I can afford.
Second, I need to save. I've always known I need to save -- thank you Mom and Dad for that lesson. However, I've always had this concept that saving has to be BIG. I need to realize that, given my means, saving isn't always going to be big. I do well with the 401k, and I have a reasonable amount automatically transferred from each paycheck into savings (which sometimes I use to pay off that awful credit card bill), but I need to start little pots for each of my goals: house stuff, wedding, travel, emergency money. Even if each pot only gets $5 a month, that is something, and something adds up.
That's all I got. It's money management 101, an easy two-step process. What do y'all think? What do you do to spend less and save more? It's really hard, isn't it?
Travel by Chris Guillebeau
If we live truly, we shall see truly. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there?
This could be the never-ending post because I get the travel itch frequently, and due to the above, I'm not able to scratch it whenever and however I want. I dream of seeing the world, of knowing different cultures and collecting stories. However, my one place, ironically, is hardly exotic because it's right here in my home country. I feel it is different enough, beautiful enough and far enough, though, that it is a must-see. That place for me is Hawaii. It's the 50th U.S. state, and I can now value my parents' desire to see the country in which they live before they start exploring abroad. I would love to explore all of the major Hawaiian islands in my lifetime. I plan to tackle two or three on my honeymoon, and I'd love to cruise around some of the others, then maybe knock off the rest on an anniversary trip or two.
What is your "one place?"
Come Alive by Jonathan Mead
Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you had one week left to live, would you still be doing what you’re doing now? In what areas of your life are you preparing to live? Take them off your To Do list and add them to a To Stop list. Resolve to only do what makes you come alive.
Bonus: How can your goals improve the present and not keep you in a perpetual “always something better” spiral?
This speaks directly to one of my goals for every day, probably the hardest thing I have ever tried to achieve. I want to become present. Forget about yesterday and tomorrow -- as cliche as that sounds -- and focus on RIGHT NOW, not even today, but this moment only.
I think it's a silly question to ask if you would do what you do if you knew your life had a time limit. Depending on that limit, the answer is probably no. Yet, everyone's life has a time limit; we just think it's so far in the future that we don't have to worry about it now.
So, with that knowledge, yeah, I'd do what I'm doing now, and I do try to make sure there is something in every day that truly makes me feel alive, positive, happy, productive. I'd love to be able to quit my job and spend my days running, practicing Yoga, reading, writing and traveling, but I haven't figured out how to sustain myself with that yet. That is my preparation to live, I suppose. I've come to the realization that nothing is going to make my life "better;" what comes is only going to be different. My perspective is what makes it better, and I have that right now.
I have yesterday and today's prompts to still catch up on, but I think I am going to save them for a later post, since this one is already getting quite long.
#Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on your now, and to create direction for your future. 30 prompts from inspiring thought-leaders will guide you on your writing journey.
Sign up to receive the prompts by email.
No comments:
Post a Comment