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When Optimization is Suboptimal

There’s this insidious trend in the personal finance/self-help spaces that drives me crazy. It’s the idea that we need to optimize every aspect of our lives, hustle hard to get ahead, and hack inefficiencies like we’re machines. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good productivity hack as much as the next person, but I think this line of thinking can also be dangerous.

Dangerous because it implies that if you aren’t optimizing everything, that you’re slacking. You aren’t trying hard enough, and that’s the reason you can’t get ahead. Well, I’m calling bullshit.

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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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Mental Health, Part 2: Sanity and Financial Security

My Mental Health Four Years Ago

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”