You know that feeling when your flying and you’ve been up in the air for hours and then the plane just starts to descend? Your ears pop a little and the crew starts shuffling around getting ready to land. You know it’s coming but it’s still just a bit longer away. The landing gear hasn’t come down just yet but the time is near. That’s my point along this adventure. I have made the trip and it’s time to start the descent. That feeling of looking back before I leave and really assesing what has been done and what I have learned this year seems in order right alongside the fact that it’s the start of the new year.
I know that so many of my posts have had a similar flavor or being debt free and the pitfalls it brings so rather than restating those things I will spare you great detail but simply offer you to dig deeper into the blog if you wish to see those postings.
Looking back allows some sense of accomplishment if you determine that any of your resolutions were actually met. I try to pick things that I think I can actually accomplish rather than picking something that may very well be off the charts for me. Some say this is setting lowered expectations but I feel that it gives a sense of accomplishment if it’s actually achieved rather than simply “just another failure”. I also believe that one person’s goal might be within reach for them and near impossible for another. Now before anybody get’s ramped up on how it’s easy for me to pay bills and free myself of debt…dig a little deeper Here
Yes I did it, I paid my bills off with the exception of one and it was expected to be this way. It’s my next and last major targeted bill. This was my 2012 year long resolution and it was life/viewpoint changing, but now that it’s nearing the end, the effort put forward and the lessons learned were worth it.
Some of those lessons are listed below.
Is it ever enough:
For a price of personal sacrifice, you can make more money than you might have thought possible at the station in life where you find yourself but there’s never going to be enough. Just when you think you have reached that point where everything would be perfect if you just had “X” amount of dollars, it’s not. Just ask the big lottery winners who eventually find themselves at a point that is worse than when they started. There’s always something that you can pine for or think you must have and it’s typically going to be just out of reach or it will come at an excessive price. The thought “Just stay a little longer and make a few dollars more” will consume your life…I know, I have met people here who have been here for many years and only started out with the idea, “It’s just one year…”.
On being debt free:
Most people who come here have this one goal in mind and it’s typically a highlight. It was for me as well. There is genuine satisfaction in this because it means I will have more time to spend on activities other than chasing money to meet the demand of the creditors and stealing my life.
See here.
On what I wanted to be when I was young in search of the perfect balance:
Most people don’t like to admit that what they are doing presently for work wasn’t their first choice. It suggests that they may not be happy in their present career field. I wanted to be an Audio Engineer and in some way to be involved in music (not volume) at a high level. That was a youthful dream but I never fully let go of it. I still play with music and recording but I am far from a professional. I do enjoy it so I share it where I can. My current career path allows me to work with some of the systems that I can also use in my hobby. It leans towards being balanced. See Here
The good stuff:
This trip has had so many benefits to it and going in, I could see some of them but not all. I still haven’t figured out all of them but they will reveal themselves in time. Some of them have affected those around me and I hope it’s all for the good. So far, that is prooving to be the case.
Until you find that balance between that which provides you the ability to have enough money to live in a manner in which you have become accustomed to and to not forsake those around you, life will be less fulfilling. When you are dying, your money will not be there to comfort you and it can’t buy comfort, it can however bring vultures who will feast on the spoils after you are dead. Always try to live your life vulture free.
The Sweet Victory of success is yours for the taking. Plan accordingly, execute your plan, be willing to adapt, make some sort term sacrifices if required, don’t be distracted by shiny stuff and trinkets…you are not a raccoon. Raccoons like shiny stuff and trinkets. Know what your goal should look like when you get there and once you do, find another worthwhile goal…see here.
I wish you a happy new year and I hope this blog has affected you in some way…
-C
Rowland Ramble - 