Well hey there. What a week to review. It’s pretty hard to top a week of vacation, so obviously, I didn’t. This week has been fairly stressful in an odd assortment of ways but the weather has been beautiful, albeit pollen-filled. For those of you who don’t live in North Carolina, you should know that when I say pollen-filled air, I mean you can literally see it. Giant yellow pollen dust clouds that leave a visible layer on everything outdoors.
1. The more rushed a person is to seal a deal, the less I trust them. For a whopping 24 hours there was some sort of freelance deal that I was a part of that made my head spin. I was sooo glad it didn’t come to fruition in the end. Business can be funny and sometimes it is hard to know who to trust. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what can be considered acceptable business practices and where the line should be. I’ll own up to being a millennial wanting to find meaning in my work, but I won’t apologize for it. So, what kind of business do I want to be a part of and represent? What are the red flags and why do they seem so alarming? What motivates the decisions?
2. You’re not in it all alone. Sometimes I take on the weight of everything happening around me. I wouldn’t recommend it. For a few days this past week I’ve just felt frantic in my stress. Sure, they were stressful things, but it’s not all up to me to handle alone. This is why we have friends and family and a God who cares for us. It’s not worth me hanging on to all the things that wear me down.
3. Saving up always pays. I’ve mentioned money things once or twice before, but I’ll give you a little more background. When we got married, we did the Financial Peace University video series with Dave Ramsey. To be honest, I think anyone who does the class should take it with a grain of salt. At the core, it’s a decent system though, one that encouraged us to pay off our school loans quicker and save up an emergency fund. It wasn’t always easy or fun and meant a lot of saying “no” to things. But it has enabled us to live with so much more freedom and flexibility. It allowed us to move without having jobs lined up and provides us with a buffer when we need it. Would I sometimes rather travel the world and worry about the money later? Heck yes. Instead we’re slowly putting money away to take a big trip in a few years. Neither of us have super high-paying jobs, but we live within our means and save what we can. All that to say, I am so grateful for this mentality to save for a rainy day. Because it will rain, but now we don’t have to live in fear of that day.