"I Want to be the Kind of Person Who…"

About a week ago, I read a really great post on Saving to Pay Down My Home. It was about envisioning who you want to be and going for it. Ever since I read it, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about who I want to be. I think that I struggle a lot with living up to my own values and rejecting – or at least ignoring – my perceptions of what others expect of me. I also struggle a lot with perfectionism and defeatism. If I’m not absolutely perfect at [fill in the blank] the first time I give it a try, I feel like a defeated failure and totally give up, rather than putting my shortfall into perspective and keeping on course. I really, really need to drop this negative thinking. It’s standing between who I am now and who I want to be. So, in that spirit:

I want to be the kind of person who is well-read and well-versed on a variety of topics

I read a lot of novels and a lot of different types of magazines, but I think I’m going to start checking some non-fiction out of the library to broaden my horizons a little. I think I partially already am this kind of person, I just want to take it a step further.

I want to be the kind of person who travels

When I envisioned my adult life when I was in college, I always pictured myself teaching during the year and traveling during the summer. Maybe some day I’ll be able to take a trip every summer, but for now I’d be happy to take a few small trips every now and then. I’m going to need to adjust my budget (ugg, again!) to accommodate this, but I’ll work something out.

I want to be the kind of person who takes care of herself

Sometimes, I eat really healthy and exercise a few times a week. Then I get into phases where I gorge on junk and sit around all day. I want to make a healthy diet and exercise a consistent part of my life. This means budgeting my money for healthy food and my time for exercise, both challenges that I need to think more about. I’m going to start this weekend by making a big, detailed shopping list full of healthy food and sticking to it.

I want to be the kind of person who takes the unexpected in stride

This means being financially fit and not jumping into anything too expensive that I can’t afford. I’m on the right track (at this time last year my only Emergency Fund was my credit card) but unexpected expenses still throw me off. I tend to get really wound up when things don’t go exactly as I planned, but I will be able to manage life’s ups and downs much better if I have a healthier stash of cash on hand to pay for unexpected problems.

I want to be the kind of person who doesn’t worry all the time

At the same time that setting and accomplishing goals is important, I tend to get so obsessive about perfection in terms of accomplishing them that I drive myself slightly nuts. Getting to a good place financially takes a long, long time. Setting a plan in motion is important, but fretting about it in the meantime doesn’t make my progress any faster. I need to let go of worrying and criticizing myself and just enjoy my life while things fall into place.

Who do you want to be?