The past couple of months have been something of a whirlwind for me, financially and otherwise. In the short time between April and now, I decided to buy my first place, I’ve launched a semi-successful, part-time career as a freelance writer, and I’m continuing to heal from a devastating breakup. In other words, my life has changed a lot in the past few months.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining; in fact, I’m pretty excited about how things are shaping up. But big changes can be a little jarring, so I’ve been working on a mantra to help deal with stressful moments and guide myself towards making choices that line up with the direction I want my life to go in. Let me just say first: I’m not a mantra-type person. Generally, I’m more likely to roll my eyes at the idea of following a mantra than I am to get on the bandwagon with one, let alone one I’ve created myself. But life is all about trying new things, and I’m trying to be a little more open-minded to some of the hippie shit I would have blow off in the past.
So, without further ado, the mantra I’m working off of at the moment is relax, recalibrate, rebuild. Why these three Rs? Let me explain:
Relax
For better or worse, I’m tightly-wound. I worry a lot about legitimate and illegitimate things, and I tend to get really caught up in whether or not I’m doing the “right” things and making all the “right” decisions. But as the events of the past several months have proved, we all only have so much control over the things that happen to us and most mistakes that we make are fixable. Also, it’s ok to relax and spend a little more on stuff that makes me happy.
For example, it would have sent me into a panic a few months ago to spend almost $1,000 more on my home improvements than I’d planned to. But I’ve realized that some things are worth extra costs, especially if they make you really happy. I really, really wanted a dishwasher and hardwood flooring, so I just relaxed and spent the extra money. After all, in the grand scheme of my life $1,000 isn’t worth losing my shit over.
Recalibrate
Taking on a few freelance gigs in addition to my full-time job has been…interesting. Until school starts again in the fall, I’m not really going to know what a “normal” week will look like for me when it comes to balancing my work life and my life life. But that’s ok. I’m not going to push too hard to create a rigid schedule or beat myself for spending too much time in one area or another. I’ll get done what I have to get done work-wise and enjoy my free time as I see fit. In time, I’ll fall into some new routines that work; the recalibration process might be a little slow, but I’ll get there.
Rebuild
Some of the changes my life has undergone recently have done nothing but uplift me; others, though, have torn me down a bit, so I do need to throw some energy into rebuilding some aspects of my life and myself. One step has been seeing a therapist, a decision I didn’t come to lightly. I’m definitely making progress, but with all the busy-ness I’ve been dealing with recently, I’ve been canceling a lot of appointments. This needs to stop. If I’m going to work towards the life I want, I need to actually, you know, do the work. So I need to recommit to therapy as a major priority in my life, not just something I attend when I feel like it.
Another something in my life that needs rebuilding is my savings account. Oi, it’s taken a hit recently. I need to make a strategic game plan for growing my net worth because, let’s face it, the steps I’ve been taking so far haven’t been effective. I need to get into a groove of not only saving, but holding on to those savings once they hit my account. I’m taking suggestions, guys!
So anyway, that’s my mantra these days, and so far I think it’s working for me. What about you – do you have any mantras you follow?
