Blogging about personal growth in financial independence, health, and happiness
It’s so appropriate that this post goes out today because it’s finally snowing for the first time in the Washington, DC area. Something about this weather makes me want to slow down and appreciate the small things. In other words, I’m ready to get hygge.
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.
Continue reading “The Value of Happiness: Why I Walked Away from $40k”
This month, I officially paid off the last of my credit card debt. I’m honestly a little embarrassed that I had any to begin with—I wasn’t all that careful with my money right after graduating because taking home a real paycheck was dizzying. I didn’t bother doing the math, and was pretty liberal to treating myself when I had a bad day and needed a pick-me-up. Or when I had a good day and needed to celebrate. Or really anytime I wanted something; I was a pro at coming up with excuses. Finally, when I got serious about budgeting just about a year ago (and subsequently fell down the FIRE rabbit hole), I was able to make real progress on tackling the beast. Continue reading “Slaying My Consumer Debt”
Remember that NBD accident from Mental Health, Part I? Yeah, it left me pretty screwed up mentally as well as physically. I did a great job of pretending I was okay for awhile, and the panic attacks and obsessive thoughts kept getting worse. I was a mess. And ironically, it took my therapist and I awhile to figure out that I was depressed. Turns out I was so good at faking normal by that point that even in my own head, depression was masked as extreme stress and exhaustion. But when we did finally put a name to that feeling of being constantly overwhelmed and unable to find a way out, things got a lot better. Why? Continue reading “Mental Health, Part 2: Sanity and Financial Security”
When I was a sophomore in college, I got hit by a truck. And this isn’t the beginning of a joke, or a metaphor for feeling shitty (on a tangent, any time I hear people say, “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck/bus,” I laugh because trust me, that’s definitely not how you feel). Continue reading “Mental Health, Part 1: The Dangerous Fallacy of Invincibility”