February 1st podcast hear it here:
Welcome to CheRae on the Way, where I am in no position to
give you advice, so I am taking you on a journey of me fixing myself. It is
February and this podcast started as a new year’s resolution to better myself
and leave something in the world that wasn’t there before. But being realistic,
what the last blog/podcast was about, I know new year’s resolutions do not
always work out the way we think. I am being honest enough to admit that I am
changing my one post a month goal to two posts a month, because I have so many
thoughts, and it forces me to see and hear my goals and faults. So I am excited
to challenge myself with this new goal. Now the changes to my resolutions were
not always seemingly positive. I also have taken some before pictures for my
work out goals, and have failed to set a predictable schedule that I can stick
to. That change to my goal of working out at least 3 times a week is not a good
one but am I working out more? Yes, was it the same as my initial goal, no. But
acknowledging that I have room to grow, means I have another chance to succeed.
If you are new to the podcast, which everyone is because
this is only episode three, than you probably don’t know too much about my
spending plan that I am doing. I got the idea from the podcast Optimal Finance
Daily. I strongly suggest you listen to that podcast. I am tracking all my
expenses in an excel spreadsheet and I had an amazing experience recently. I
went to put an expense in my expense tracker and it was already there. Good
practices becoming habit. Yay me! I am surprised and happy for my successes
with my goals, but know that failure is inevitable. For example while I had
success with one expense I also forgot to account for another reoccurring
expense. And am still short for some required bills. Meaning I am living
paycheck to paycheck. I am learning. Tracking my expenses makes me think twice
before buying things, because I know I will have to put it in later, and having
it glaring back at me on my computer makes me want to avoid inputting withdraws.
I also make expenses red, a color that psychologically says bad to me. So that expenses
are mostly necessities not frivolities. I am still failing at that, because
date nights with friends are important to me. So I try to do them and spend
very little. But the ultimate goal is to only go out when I have the money to
that. Not like I have $100 so I can spend $50. I need to start creating a
constant and reliable cushion of at least $300. Then maybe I can get a savings
of at least $2000 like the financial advisor told me. Well I am working on
getting my house rented out, I am also relearning math so I can get back into
school, and I got a good reliable job with opportunity for advancement and
sometimes it’s fulfilling work. So I wanted to share that so you know that these
are steps I am taking not just empty dreams but goals because I have a plan to
reach them.
As for my fitness goals. I fell off the gym routine fairly
quickly, and failure was a possible result. So I started doing squats in the
kitchen, and walking between buildings I would normally drive to at work. But if I keep pushing myself, I am going to learn
to love going to the gym. I have to find the good in my failures. No gym means,
learning to at home workouts. Forgotten expense means starting the expense
tracker was a good idea.
There is no better way to find the good in a bad situation
than to find a positive spin on a hard situation. For example for almost every
struggle there is another version of it used to seek enlightenment. Take
hunger. One person’s plight and anguish is what another does voluntarily to
gain a clear mind or better health or maybe even religious benefits. When you
can’t buy the newest thing, remember minimalism and decluttering is changing
lives all over the world. Next time your budget is saying nothing but ramen for
the next two weeks, think of it as a time to reflect on what could be done to
make this predicament less likely in the future. Sometimes hard times are just
inevitable and in those situations learn to take the time your internet gets
shut off to discover the public library in your neighborhood. Not having gas is
a great time to enjoy a bike ride, learn what free events are in your area
(like hikes, volunteer opportunities), take odd jobs you enjoy (painting, tutoring, give lessons, babysitting,
dog sitting, house cleaning, write for contests or blogs), maybe make your limited shopping budget a chance to try a
new budget friendly meal. My favorite budget buys are rice, frozen vegetables,
canned goods, pasta, pasta sauce, and meat (chicken breast, ground beef, and
lunch meat). Of course buy the foods you like, search for OFF brand, and try to
not deprive yourself. If you are feeling tacos from your favorite restaurant
you might find it cheaper to make it yourself and have leftovers. Also you get
to make it exactly how you like it. Can’t cook? No worries, not only do cook
books help, but now there are videos on youtube that can walk you through
everything. Same principle can be applied to when your lights go out, think of
all the yoga and medication that happens in dark rooms with candles. So next
time hard times come up, have that situation make you stronger and smarter.
Learning form mistakes is crucial. Will Smith has a video out that talks about
failure in a spectacular but truthful way. One of the things that stood out to
me was the quote about the gym. How appropriate only two months into 2018?
He mentions
something along the lines of the fact that we can‘t be afraid to fail, and to
even fail often. We go to the gym with the sole purpose of failing. You work
out ‘til failure. I have heard this
principle from other fitness enthusiasts, push yourself to failure, because
failure builds muscle and gives you a goal to beat next time. I encourage you
to check out the video link below. This is the
reality of failure we all need to take into account. Especially in a social
media driven world. We can sometimes only see other’s successes and never
notice the trail of failures that got them there. One must learn to not only
embrace their failures, but look forward to them.
This is an easier said than done moment for me. I replay
embarrassing moments in my head years after they have happened. It will make me
shudder in present day for gaffs that have happened many years ago. But just
because I fail at that does not mean that I should not keep trying to build a
healthy relationship with failure. This is something that without logical steps
to achieve it seems impossible. So what could some of those steps be? I think
the first step is confidence. If you’re confident in yourself then your
failures will seem like exactly what they are, a seemingly unnoticeable
mis-stroke in a beautiful painting. When
a child is learning to walk and falls down 50 times they never think “this
isn’t for me.” I was not able to find out where this quote came from but I
think it is a great example of how failure plays out in the grand scheme of
things. Think of success like walking. And if walking is a bad example for you,
for people of all abilities, think of this as flying for birds, or swimming for
fish, they must do it, just as you must succeed.
Thanks for listening, I am CheRae and I am on my way to
physical, financial, and personal goals. Thank you!
Sources:
Sources:
Views on Fasting
Grocery shopping on a budget
Failure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFf6rhcYkXw
Will Smith video
How to deal with failure
Learn to cook
De-clutter / minimalism
