Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

MrsMoo2U

Tricia, you sum up what is in my thoughts so eloquently. You are so right that young people are rarely encouraged to follow their passion. Too often we get caught up in "living" rather than LIVING. Wage traps, families and everything else takes its toll. The difference for me is that my friend always followed her passion from the age of 19, I took the safe option. Now I want to fly too. As for writing I am pleased to hear that you are following that passion. I love to write - was published as a teenager but I lost my way. Thanks to many people on here I have tentatively started to experiment again. By the way, I agree I seem to hang onto the coat tails of strong people on here so in return I am gaining some of their strength.

As KK would say "To infinity and beyond" for all of us.

FW look forward to hearing more.

elantan

i think it is natural to gravitate towards people we hold in high regard ... not only do we get to learn new things for ourselves we also get to share in their enjoyment of life ... as well as supporting them in their quest for living ....

i am lucky in that i have never really regarded employment as important to me ... yes i have to work i understand this ... but work for me is a case of working to live not living to work ... i have never been interested in working my way up any ladder ..... i am more than aware that i am capable of it ... but i dont need the money i dont want the stress for the little extra pay ... for me work is just that work .. right now i am lucky that i work three shifts then i am off for seven then i work for four then i am off for seven .... yeah i could do with more money but the time i have off means so much more to me than my wage slip currently does

Firewalker

Tricia, thanks for posting. And yes, I am more than determined to move from 'work is my life' to 'life is my work'. In this I am one of the lucky ones - it probably is not going to take much adjustment. I just (she says confidently) have to find a way to become financially free, or healthy, or whatever we decide to call it. In simple terms it means that I do what I love most of the time but I would prefer not to do it as an emploee - this kills the joy of the primary activities.

Discovering one's passion is always wonderful - enjoy and nurture. Together, as a group, I suspect we can help more people get there.

Firewalker

greenbee

FW - reading your thread over the past couple of days has been a great displacement activity for me I've enjoyed seeing your journey and it has certainly been thought-provoking. I've got no idea why I didn't visit before, but I guess the time just wasn't right.

I try to divide my work day up into writing and non-writing time, but find that the writing time gets frittered away with admin (work and personal) and always falls down the priority list. As a result, I'm currently behind and work due for publication this month is not yet out for review. Given the length and complexity of one of the papers, this is very worrying, as I will have to beg/bribe people to do the reviews :cool:

Diet and exercise end up being sidelined, and yet again I'm working late at night without the energy to clearly articulate my ideas. So I have lots of notes, but nothing really coherent (doesn't help that I'm really not interested in the topic, but have to write on it as its one of my assigned subjects... we share out the dull stuff!).

Right now finances are not an issue, although if things work out and OH and I get back together (you know the story already) I may have to be more responsible with money. However my time is. I need to be more disciplined in order to make the most of it, and the stories on here have made that clear. I'm not going to be rash and say 'as of tomorrow I'll get it right' as that's setting myself up to fail. What I will say, is that over the next week or so I will take the time to work out why I'm failing - why the things that were so easy last year are so hard this year - and slowly try to put the mechanisms in place to ensure I can work more efficiently, get fit and healthy, and have time to spend with the people who matter to me.

Thank you for your inspiration - and that of the others who have contributed to your thread.

And with that, I'm going to stop flogging the dead horse that is my current paper, and go to bed. Hopefully a good night's sleep will lead to a productive day tomorrow.

Triciaxx

cherisong wrote: »

Tricia, you sum up what is in my thoughts so eloquently. You are so right that young people are rarely encouraged to follow their passion. Too often we get caught up in "living" rather than LIVING. Wage traps, families and everything else takes its toll. The difference for me is that my friend always followed her passion from the age of 19, I took the safe option. Now I want to fly too. As for writing I am pleased to hear that you are following that passion. I love to write - was published as a teenager but I lost my way. Thanks to many people on here I have tentatively started to experiment again. By the way, I agree I seem to hang onto the coat tails of strong people on here so in return I am gaining some of their strength.

As KK would say "To infinity and beyond" for all of us.

FW look forward to hearing more.

Thank you Cherisong. I'm sure you know 'The road not taken' and the last verse is particularly apt here

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference.

I used to believe this mattered but I'm not so sure now. If you had taken a different path when you were 19, it is quite likely that you would have missed all that is now good in your life - with no guarantee that you would have been happier.

For me, that would have included not having my children and grandchildren, current DH, living in a house overlooking a park, good friends. I might well have never travelled to the places I have, driven a Ferrari round a race course, sailed across the North Sea, uncovered an ammonite on a beach.

I might never have seen combine harvesters marching across a field at night, lights blazing, purposefully advancing, sillhouetted against the moon. That was 30 years ago and I have never forgotten it.

I have to remind myself of those good things every now and then and it gives me the strength to start again - not on a completely different path but one which gathers up all that is good in my life and all that life has taught me. I need to use those things and lessons to do what is right for me now, not what I thought I wanted when I was 19.

Ooer, Missus! I'm pontificating, sorry. I'll go and have a coffee.

Firewalker

Triciaxx wrote: »

I might well have never travelled to the places I have, driven a Ferrari round a race course, sailed across the North Sea, uncovered an ammonite on a beach.

I might never have seen combine harvesters marching across a field at night, lights blazing, purposefully advancing, sillhouetted against the moon. That was 30 years ago and I have never forgotten it.

I am impressed - and much starts making sense to me. For people who live like you do Tricia, writing is a natural part of life.

FW

Firewalker

greenbee wrote: »

FW - reading your thread over the past couple of days has been a great displacement activity for me
And with that, I'm going to stop flogging the dead horse that is my current paper, and go to bed. Hopefully a good night's sleep will lead to a productive day tomorrow.

Greenbee, I am feeling torn between scolding you (you know well how I feel about displacement despite doing it myself) and feeling glad to have you here. Tim Ferriss would have said - hope you fast read my diary.

On a more serious note, get on with the paper - do it only when you are inspired and be inspired every day at certain time (and for about three hour a day).

Firewalker

savingwannabe

This is all sooo positive. Am very happy. Hooray.

Craftyscholar

Firewalker wrote: »

be inspired every day at certain time (and for about three hour a day).

Firewalker

Now that is a secret I would love to learn

Firewalker

Today is the day when I go back home. So the plan is rather simple really: take shower, pack, have coffee with host and friend, get on a train, do stuff at Airport, get on the plane; get off - given OH and Little Boy the BIGGEST HUG ever.

While changing trains, planes and other means of transportation I will write the next post for the blog. I did have a good think about it and realised that I have not found time to do it because I am still doing boring stuff (this one is to be about assets and liabilities and the fact that most of us confuse the two...as well as assets with possessions). Wait till I get to the interesting stuff - relationship with money, exercises to figure it out and correct it etc...Then I'll be writing all the time. BTW, there have been comments from people who are not 'from around here'. Which I find surprising but strangely pleasing.

Anyhow, I should stop displacing and get on with the minutae of my life.

Firewalker