Creating a Budget
Last month I declared a spending freeze to help me take control of my financial life (you can read about it here: “Enough Is Enough”). I stated that the next step was to create a budget so here I am to revisit the spending freeze and talk about how to create a budget for yourself. Make sure you check out the free online service to help you keep track of your spending at the end of this post! The goal of the spending freeze was to get out of the habit of mindless spending so that I can change my mindset to intentional spending. I stopped making impulse purchases and…
I Failed At Forgiveness
Tonight I failed. Tonight I came face to face with someone who tried to tear my world apart. I don’t even know how to describe what this woman attempted to do and how it has torn me apart, shattered so many relationships in my life and tested me to the core. Over the past year and a half, I have struggled with every emotion from hate to love, betrayal and grief. I have struggled with the concept of forgiveness. I have forgiven a lot of things over the years. Tough things… Things that some people can’t understand how I could forgive. I could forgive because I could understand why they…
Happy Birthday!
Today is my birthday. In my twenties, I used my birthday to look ahead at all the plans, hopes and dreams I had. So much was happening. Starting a business, buying a home, getting married, and having babies. My twenties flew by but not exactly the way I thought they would. When I entered my thirties I wanted things to be different but I didn’t know how to go about it. I was in a bad marriage, depressed, felt hopeless. The first few years I worked really hard at making the best of my situation and hoping the people and circumstances around me would change. Instead, things got worse and…
5 Ways To Have A Better Day
My least favorite days are the ones where I feel listless, unfocused, and unproductive. These are the days I snap at my family and feel disgusting inside. I feel angry, anxious, stressed out, disappointed, frustrated, sad, panicked… pretty much every negative feeling there is, I feel those all at the same time. Disgusting. These days are not made because I do nothing but rather they are the days that I have no plan OR I focus all of my time and effort on one aspect of my life and the other areas of life suffer. If I sit down in the morning to work before I’ve done anything else I…
He Loves Me. He Loves Me Not.
Valentine’s Day is almost here which makes me think about love It may seem trivial and obvious but love is actually a very tricky and complicated thing because it is emotional, not logical. Millions of books, movies, and songs are written about it. It has the power to dominate our thoughts, override common sense and control our actions if we let it. It is a part of our lives. It can be wonderful and it can be devastating. If you have ever had your heart broken, you know it’s not something you want to repeat. If you could add a little logic to your emotional reaction to the hope of…
Hope and Healing
The older I get and the more people I talk to, it is obvious we all have our struggles. Some are self-inflicted while others are entirely out of our control. Keeping to yourself when you are going through a hard time might feel like the safe thing to do but in most cases it is not the best plan for overcoming your struggle. By turning inwards, our thoughts and emotions can take us on a downward spiral. I have found that hearing others’ stories can be very helpful. It reminds us that we are not alone in our struggle and it also helps us look at our difficulties with a…
