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

williamD1964

did you see the email FW?

Firewalker

williamD1964 wrote: »

did you see the email FW?

I did. Will send you a reply soon.

FW

Firewalker

Today has been a strange day. First, my early morning run almost killed me – I started to run with a friend who is very fast so running puts stress but stress is good; if we don’t push we do not develop. This is true about fitness, about personal growth, about professional development and generally life. Comfort zones feel comfortable but they are really a deadly trap – it our duty to try and get out of comfort.

After my run we went to Little Boy’s rugby match – he played really well and scored twice. I still find it very disturbing to see him on the ground, under several heavy boys or being pushed into a back flip. I am much better with seeing him covered in mud from top to toe though.

On the way back Little Boy reminded us that I could not find my skiing trousers and I need some in about two week or slightly over. So we drove to Decathlon and got some for me. My heart is bleeding because of the spending but then we have the ‘I am so worth it’ account and I am certainly worth a pair of skiing trousers. But I impressed myself in the shop. The story is that OH noticed that this particular pair have 20% discount – about £10. But at the till it did not show; and until recently I would not have noticed and if I did I would have not mentioned it. Today I raised the matter and although the young people there claimed that we have made a mistake (we didn’t, I believe) I still felt as if I have moved forward simply because I did not ignore the matter. Money is becoming my trusted partner; not my enemy and not my secret affair.

In the afternoon I fell asleep – felt so tired. No work was done this weekend but this is the first one I am taking off this month; and on Tuesday I will be off again. It is fortunate I spend so much time with the gypsies (proper Roma people) when I was a kid. I suppose what is left is not only my appreciation of gypsy music but also the tinkering spirit, the need to move and the resilience to cope with it.

Tonight I have a thought for the day and it is:

“The world only gets better because people risk something to make it better.” – Paolo Coelho



Firewalker

Firewalker

Have so little time for writing my diary lately that I seem to run through it like a lean, mean sprinter – not like the patient long distance runner I am. I will probably be breathless before I am mid-way through this post.



There are two words that describe today – mad rush. Got up in a rush, had a morning of rushing about and am still doing it. Tomorrow am off on my travels again – I have not even done the presentation yet. This is a sign of a long night ahead – working, worrying about work or both.

Today I was thinking how easy it is for us people to be sent off course. We try to be good, we try to be positive we try to be supportive and then at first sign of weakness we are ready to gang up on someone and see them down. Strange, because we all think that we are never going to do such a thing, that our moral foundations are too stable and solid for that but we all could do it – it all depends on how much pressure we are under, how much we are prepared to sacrifice and how much we are attached to our ego.



And yet, I still believe that it is possible to rise above all that and realise that cooperation, staying together and supporting each other is always mightier than competitions. We shall see, we shall see...

On a different matter my bus fare has increased to £2.20 – this is for 4.5 miles. I think that enough is enough and I am starting to cycle again and since I am in training anyway run at least one way. In the long run having a motorbike is becoming a necessity rather than a fun way to parade in leathers and pretend to look like cat-woman (I wish).



Keep well everyone and I will try to post during the rest the week – this, however, depends on access to and quality of internet.

Firewalker

savingwannabe

Good luck with the presentation and travelling. I hope you can post you always cheer me up. I will miss you if you can't.

williamD1964

I for one insist on a pic of you in leathers!

Firewalker

Thank you, William, my friend. You always have faith - and these pics are coming soon. Even more importantly Little Boy will be 13 when I take him on this journey so imagine how many years of therapy this is...

FW (a very rushed one; getting ready to go to the Airport)

NorthernLas

FW, I wonder if you would be up for an experiment?

When you have time, have a read of your last posts and count the number of 'trys' in them. As I have been removing this word from my vocabulary, they jump out at me.

The thing is, using 'try' sets a person up for failure, since by saying it the brain hears that the thing you are going to do is

1. In the future
2. Difficult to achieve

Of course, this is all 'poppyc0ck', but it is very interesting finding alternative words and noticing the difference

Was it Yoda that said you can do or not do, trying means you don't! (though maybe he said feel the force Luke ... :rotfl:)

Keep breathing and enjoy as many moments in the here and now (yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why it is called the PRESENT)

NL x

p.s. Sorry, I decluttered the loft a couple of years ago and gave away my leathers ... you will just have to save up for uber-trendy ones yourself :cool:

savingwannabe

All the wierdo's are going to join this thread because of all you lot in leather. I can hear them beating down the doors now!! Tee hee.

Firewalker

Oh, God, was I nervous today...but serves me right for not preparing the presentation in good time for the meeting. Would you believe that I was still finishing it last night? You better believe it – in fact I came up with the idea how to do it yesterday morning. Surprisingly it went very well and the people at the meeting remarked on that. Which is telling me that I can do this one if I put my mind to it – I can become one of the most searched for by policy makers in research and by academics.



The reason the presentation went well though has loads to do with what I have been doing on this website – writing this diary has helped me change the way I think. Until recently I would have presented what I thought is interesting; the audience today would not have been interested in that. But also what I have learned during the past year is that no audience is interested in what I find interesting. People are interested in what is useful for them; so if one thinks about how to add value to what people do – it gets noticed; both by politicians and academics.



As a friend would have said, some learning is taking place.



Now off to Italy, to Rome. But the hard and challenging part of the journey is over – I mean intellectually and professionally challenging. From now on it is about whether the trips will be fine and how does the meeting go.



Firewalker