I've already spent way too much time at work this week because I'm having a really random train of thought that will probably only make sense to me, but as the first step towards conquering any problem is to identify said problem, I figure I'm ahead of the game just by acknowledging that it's a random train of thought. Hopefully it's not so random that it's not worth the few minutes you're spending reading this blog.
Anyway, today I decided to remove two items from my resolution list. The first is "Find a Writing Job." Yes, I would love to be a writer, but the problem is, I already have a job. A job that consumes way too much of my time. And while I'd never consider myself lazy, I've been doing mental cost-benefit analyses of this particular resolution for a while, and I've come to the conclusion that to make a standard of living even up to 50% of what I'm making right now would take way more work than doing my current job. And while I'd have more free time to travel and do other things I love if I were a writer, I'd have less money with which to enjoy them. And, (we're going to see how many sentences I can start with "and;" I know all sorts of fun games) what I'd like to do is be a novelist (I think), so if I'm going to spend my precious free time doing writing related things, I may as well be doing novel-writing related things.
The second thing I've decided to remove from my resolutions list is "No Coffee/Soda (change/improve diet)." It's not so much that I don't need to improve my diet, or that I'm not going to try, but I've decided to remove this from my resolutions list because I'm going to go about a different way of doing it. Here's my shout-out to my friend, Tiffany, The Budgetnista. Seriously, you should check out her site, her facebook page and buy her book.
Anyway, she has this philosophy that there are four general categories of things you spend your money on: things you want, things you like, things you love, and things you need. She wants you to ask yourself if you want it, like it, love it, or need it before you buy something. Because, if you stop buying things you want or like, you'll have more money for the things you love or need. Her example is that she likes watching TV and eating out, but she LOVES traveling. So she cancelled her cable and stopped eating out (okay, I can't say ever here, but she at least cut back). And last year she was able to travel to something fantastic like 14 countries.
So, here's where this ties into my resolutions. Before I eat something not useful, I'm going to ask myself if I want it, like it, love it, or need it. Today I was craving a Coke. But I decided I just wanted it. So I ate my clementine. I LOVE Entenmann's crumb cake, but I can't find it in California, so when I go home to New Jersey, my mom buys me one for myself. And I eat the entire thing. And I don't feel any regret. But since I haven't been home in over a year, I think I'm entitled. But I drink Coke more than once a year.
And now I've come to the end of my random train of thought and have completely lost steam and have spent the last 15 minutes looking at friends' facebook pages, so I have no conclusion tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment