I recently paid for a holiday I've been dreaming of on my credit card. I have a rule with credit cards: I will never put more on it than I can immediately pay off with my savings. It's also sensible when booking flights (especially Ryanair, eek).
I'm also likely to get a bonus at work this year that will pay off the credit card right away though this isn't confirmed.
But my god. The brain gremlins are working overtime to tell me that I've lost control of my finances, I'm terrible with money, and I've made a HUGE mistake. Despite no evidence to suggest that my world is about to shatter and implode, my body holds the immediacy of it as gospel.
Thing is, I grew up poor. I grew up not having holidays - I have an acute memory of giving up a school trip I was going to go on so my family would have more money.
And now that I'm older and stable, while yes, I value my house and that it let's me keep a cat, and I can put my own art wherever I want, the things I treasure the most are memories. The sight of the whale frolicking off the coast of Reykjavík, the way hot chocolate tastes in Belgium, the feeling of the breeze coming off of a Scottish loch on flushed skin after the exertion of rambling up a hill...
These are things we shouldn't just strive for when it's easy, these are things we should fight for when it's hard.
Thank you right back! Another excellent example of how well-meaning lessons get into our brain and we end up with binary thinking about right and wrong, instead of celebrating the subjective and individual. Doing the right thing for you is so much harder than it sounds so kudos to you (and everyone else) for finding and seeing the examples when they come.
Thank you very, very much for sharing this. That’s it, exactly: there’ll always be a next time except if our thinking changes there will always need to be…and then, eventually, no more next times.
Well this just came at a perfect time for me ♥️
I recently paid for a holiday I've been dreaming of on my credit card. I have a rule with credit cards: I will never put more on it than I can immediately pay off with my savings. It's also sensible when booking flights (especially Ryanair, eek).
I'm also likely to get a bonus at work this year that will pay off the credit card right away though this isn't confirmed.
But my god. The brain gremlins are working overtime to tell me that I've lost control of my finances, I'm terrible with money, and I've made a HUGE mistake. Despite no evidence to suggest that my world is about to shatter and implode, my body holds the immediacy of it as gospel.
Thing is, I grew up poor. I grew up not having holidays - I have an acute memory of giving up a school trip I was going to go on so my family would have more money.
And now that I'm older and stable, while yes, I value my house and that it let's me keep a cat, and I can put my own art wherever I want, the things I treasure the most are memories. The sight of the whale frolicking off the coast of Reykjavík, the way hot chocolate tastes in Belgium, the feeling of the breeze coming off of a Scottish loch on flushed skin after the exertion of rambling up a hill...
These are things we shouldn't just strive for when it's easy, these are things we should fight for when it's hard.
Thank you for reminding me of that
Thank you right back! Another excellent example of how well-meaning lessons get into our brain and we end up with binary thinking about right and wrong, instead of celebrating the subjective and individual. Doing the right thing for you is so much harder than it sounds so kudos to you (and everyone else) for finding and seeing the examples when they come.
Perfect post.
Showing up is important, and the Bowie lesson is one we all have.
Mine was Tom Petty at Hyde Park (ironically, supported by one Stevie Nicks).
I always wanted to see him.
I didn’t go. There will always be a next time.
He died a few months later.
I bought Bob Dylan tickets last week with this rule fully in mind.
Thank you very, very much for sharing this. That’s it, exactly: there’ll always be a next time except if our thinking changes there will always need to be…and then, eventually, no more next times.