Grief and Growth

It’s so hard to realize that this year is almost gone. And more than that, this decade of my life is almost gone – I turn 30 in a few weeks. In a lot of ways, it feels like we’ve been paused since March 2020. Like the past year and a half shouldn’t even count; like we should get a “do-over.” But that’s not true. We’ve had to keep surviving, living, growing, changing even with all of the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic. Maybe even BECAUSE of that stress and uncertainty. I think there are plenty of people out there who experienced forced introspection in 2020 when they might not have done that work otherwise.

When I look back at the past year, I see so many changes. At first, I tried to talk about all of them in one post, but it very quickly got excessive. They’ll each get their own post. I make no promises about when those posts will happen. They’re all changes that are poignant – that I consider pivot points in my life. Today’s post, the first post of 2021 after almost a year of not writing, is for SunCat. It’s half reflection, half eulogy.

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The Value of Happiness: Why I Walked Away from $40k

value of happiness why I walked away from $40,000 blog owning the stars

Could I have picked a more clickbait-y title? You’re welcome. But it’s 100% true too. This is my second weekly update post, and it’s been one hell of a week. This is a pretty long post because there’s some background that needs to be established, but bear with me. I eventually get to the part about lighting money on fire and walking away. But I’ve also discovered that the value of happiness doesn’t have a price tag. And as trite as that sounds, it’s so true.

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Financial Advice from My Cat

Pets have always been in integral part of my life. They make me happier, and they’re great companions to have through tough times. They’re also fantastic sources of amusement – both cats and dogs tend to do pretty ridiculous things (have you ever seen a cat get his jaw stuck in his collar? Or jump into the shower by accident when it’s running?). But in addition to all of that, my cats have also imparted some pretty deep financial advice over the years. And being the generous person I am, I decided I had to share that wisdom with the world. Courtesy of my financially savvy cats:

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