Step Numero Uno

Forget about the finances.

She said WHAT?!

Does this mean I'm abandoning my envelope system? Hell no. That system is extremely useful and almost essential if I want to fulfill my goals for this year. What is does mean is that I am going to do is stop foregoing present opportunities just because of some fear that if I don't save $10,000 before graduation, I'll never be able to afford a down payment on a house or buy my trailer or live through the down economy or blah blah blah. It'll be okay. We will survive.

If I learned nothing else from The 4-Hour Workweek, I at least understood that I've been limiting my life so much because of fear, usually fear of embarrassment or disappointment due to failure or fear of its future effects. Major in economics now so that I maybe it will be easier to find a job later; Commute two hours now so that maybe Random House will hire me two years from now; Just make a decision on a career path so my family/professors/strangers will be satisfied; Don't even try going to the gym, you know you'll look ridiculous and you won't be able to get in shape anyway; Forget learning Tagalog because it will be too hard for you and you'll be embarrassed for trying. The list goes on and on and it gets more and more ridiculous.

So, in short, forgetting about my finances does not mean I'll catch every movie at the theater that seems interesting. Does not mean I'll order out every day or buy a new wardrobe next season. It just means that I'm taking a month-long vacation to the Philippines instead of securing an internship and using any extra money I have for other thing I've been putting off for "future financial stability."

The plans we make for our lives tend to falter when it's time to carry them out. So there's not a whole lot I can do besides live in the present.

I don't think I've felt this liberated in over a decade.