In the last few months*, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about what I want from this page. There are somewhere on the order of a bazillion blogs about money, so what could I offer here that hasn’t already been done? That was the start of refocusing this page, ever so slowly, into sharing my journey. No one else has shared that, because no one else has had my unique set of experiences. And I have realized that my journey, above all else, needs to be toward contentment.
If you ever looked at this page’s predecessor**, you wouldn’t see much contentment. The tagline there, and on my Twitter page until recently, made it obvious that I was looking to make a quick buck from people joining under me in all sorts of programs. Now, I suppose there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that…
…except for my mindset.
I’ve wanted more for too long
Even though I am working a full-time job, I just haven’t felt that I have enough income. Granted, that may be because right now there are things that need to be in our budget which we simply cannot afford at the moment, but even when the budget was balanced, I wanted more. It’s all too easy for me to compare myself to everyone around me, with their new cars, their better-kept houses, their longer vacations, their stuff.
As a Christian, I know all about how I shouldn’t covet, and how many times Jesus spoke about the rich. Unfortunately – and I don’t think I’m alone in this – I found (and have to keep reminding myself) that having head knowledge about what the Bible says about my covetousness doesn’t affect me when it is only head knowledge. As it turned out, it was reading about contentment from another blogger that helped me to open up to the idea of truly facing this inner flaw. God works in mysterious ways.
Thanks to my local library, I am presently reading, along with about ten other books at once, Living Well, Spending Less by Ruth Soukup.
Ruth Soukup is one of those bloggers of whom, if I wanted, I could really be jealous. She has hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of readers on her page, whereas I occasionally read my own blog just to increase the number of views. With that said, Ms. Soukup shared, in this book, her own struggles with comparing herself to others and their situations, from the friend vacationing on the beaches of Tahiti to her husband’s choice of dinner entrees. She sums up the issue she, and I, have (or perhaps had, in her case?):
So how do we choose contentment when it feels like life throws us nothing but ways to feel inadequate? How do we find fulfillment in what we have, when it is so painfully clear what we are still missing? How can we choose to be satisfied when the yearning for what we don’t have feels so insatiable?
The journey toward contentment
But it is also Ms. Soukup who offers the timely reminder that our priorities affect our level of contentment. Doesn’t the Bible, as Ms. Soukup reminds her readers, talk about storing up treasures in heaven? That’s a very different priority from wanting more stuff, even if my budget happens to need a bit more income at the moment. The question is, will I be on edge 24/7/365 looking for a couple more dollars, never satisfied, or will I be thankful for the family I have, the income I do have from my job and my side hustles?
And when I do–and I will–talk about some of those side hustles, am I going to look at my readers as nameless, faceless sources of income, or am I really looking to help people? Ah, but that’s a little harder, isn’t it? But reminding myself daily to have the right priorities will start me on the way to contentment, to true peace.
I may never make it to financial independence before I reach retirement age (whatever number that is by the time my generation gets there), but if I can be content with my situation, I will be much better off than I am now.
* The last few months in which I was not really updating this page much at all, that is.
** Which is eventually going to be phased out, so there’s really no need to search for it…or for me even to link to it.
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I’ve had this as an open browser window for so long and finally came back to read it.
Glad you’re making the blog more focused on your happiness and not trying to sell or promote for cash only!
I just added ads to mine. I figured “why not” but the best payoff this week was getting a long email from another pharmacist after a topic really hit home. That’s so cool!
I’d like to make some money at blogging, but I know if I’m not being true to myself, I’ll lose interest eventually.
As for as contentment goes, I struggle with at times too. I can usually find where someone else is “struggling” to be able to afford whatever it is I might want. I then remind myself of the choices I’ve made, why I’ve made them, and the freedom and lack of stress it’s given me. Usually, I quickly realize all the stress and go go go that goes into whatever lifestyle I’m covering at the movement and remember, I hate living life like that!
There’s always more I want, but luckily, I think I’m pretty content overall. I have some wants, but no needs that aren’t fulfilled (well except a new job soon.. I can’t be jobless forever, yet).