humiility – Brilliant Distraction

How many Louis Vuitton bags do I need anyway?

Sorry, but its been a minute since my last blog. I have made strides in my spending habit since my last post. I have some money saved now and I am ready to make payments on my credit cards. I just had a conversation with my close friend about money and financial freedom. She is so amazing when it comes to that type of discipline that it gives me hope that I too can get there. Don’t get me wrong: I want so many things and I feel like I deserve them. I work hard and I have a right to enjoy nice things. BUT, and a big but, I will enjoy these things for a short time, like a week. Then it will likely go back to the far reaches of my closet. How many Louis Vuitton bag does one need anyway? Seriously. If I haven’t said it before, I think two is sufficient.

Intellectually, I know all of this and it all makes perfect sense. My friend also suggested I make a list of all thing things I want to have RIGHT now. Keep that list for reference and see how those things are just things. That if I want them down the line, I can save up money. Buy the cash, not credit. I think this is a fabulous idea. It’s like a bucket list of the shit I really honestly don’t need; hopefully, its a bucket list of material crap that won’t enrich my life…

Instead, I think I am going to use some of that cash for a vacation. Which is still spending money, yes, but on something that will give me unforgettable forever memories. It’s not a piece of expensive leather or even vinyl that will live in my closet indefinitely. Baby steps, people! So AFTER paying off a chunk of my credit cards, I am going to buy my vacation with cash, not credit. It’s a start, right? And that’s where I need to begin.

Thanksgiving

I want to tell you something really fantastic about Thanksgiving. Something that makes us all inspired. Something about our gratitude and good fortune when we eat our turkey and other food in excess. Some of us watch football all day. I don’t, but hey, there it is, a great day off to eat a ton and watch football in the middle of the week. I absolutely know, at the least, I have the privilege of good fortune and good food and a roof over my head during m post divorce Hell (five years to be exact, six if you count when I had to leave my home). I know friends and family have helped immensely. And that’s an incredible start to my Thanksgiving story.

It is in those simple times in my life that I asked for help and received it with unconditional love that i am most humble and grateful. It is during those 364 other days of the year that I have depended on loved ones to hold me up during hard times. It is those days that I felt the most thankful.

I have to remember when we string each of the days, some tougher than others, we get something pretty awesome called LIFE. It’s not always fair. Its not always right or just. We fall in love. Out of love. We feel wronged. We feel awesome and vindicated. But this is the deal:

We are feeling. Which means we are alive and get to start over the next day. And that’s pretty cool. We can be thankful for that, right? For me this is an affirmation. I am going to repeat this affirmation for the next 48 hours and every hour after that, because really, we can NOT take this amazing life for granted. This is NOT a Debbie downer post. Not at all. I just want to stay humble and grateful for this life we are given every day. Sometimes that’s hard. Sometimes I feel entitled to more than just the notion of being alive. Maybe sometimes I feel I deserve something really awesome, above and beyond what I have worked for. Then I get right-sized and my ego gets bruised. A little. And I begin again. Humble. It keeps going like that.

Please let me know how your Thanksgiving week is…the anticipation of it, family angst, relationship angst, whatever it brings: Bring it on!

Humility comes free with every break-up

As I realize clearly that my last several weeks of posts about that most recent past relationship were written in an authentic anxious frenzy of nerves, fear, and insecurity, this should come as no shock.

I need to get back on track. I need to return to me. I must clearly identify the triggers that sent me into an indeterminate tail spin born from red flags BEFORE the tail does, in fact, go spinning. I realize my mounting intensity in the last year has sabotaged me from different opportunities, different paths. I would say that’s all fine and that’s just “who I am”. Except that it is NOT who I am. Not.At.All. At least it’s not the best version of myself. I’d like me back, thank you very much. I think we all deserve to become a better version of ourselves. Am I right?! It is truly the hardest battle. I think I survived the atrocities and Hell from 6 years ago on adrenaline and fumes. That was hard, but not impossible.

Now, I recovered from that Hell all proud and full of newly found and well counseled strength. I didn’t need to worry about my past anymore. I deserved to move on, right? Problem is, I left the future in the rear view mirror. I left it lying in the dust. I gave that horrid history a kick in the ass. I gave that road to Hell no respect. Then the Ego returned. Even after a plague fell on my heart and I thought I would remain humble for an eternity.

I realize I am a strong person, with some definite unplanned imperfections. I need to be far more honest (maybe even excruciatingly brutal) with myself to minimize the needless suffering I endured the last few weeks. When a friend used this term after she read a blog post of mine, I thought it was harsh. It wasn’t. It was actually said with love and within minutes I could see that. I need to take action. Now.

So have you experienced humility that was temporary, but you thought it would last you a life time? Years later, you forgot your struggle. You didn’t stay true to who you are?

When I first started my blog, I posted this pair of jeans; you all told me to keep them. I did. I should have looked at them more frequently. They are a reminder of that humility:Blue Jeans

Tell me about it. I want to know.

Thank you!