The last two months of 2011 saw me barely keeping my head above water. It was a time of transition, a time of transformation and a time of rebirth. I vowed that my goal for 2012 was going to be fearless. I had allowed fear to hold me back from doing the things that I knew I needed to do in order to take my blog to the next level.
When I really looked at what I was afraid of, it was eye-opening to see that I was not only afraid of trying and failing, but I was afraid of trying and succeeding. I was apprehensive about how the success I was saying that I wanted would affect my life. What if I was able to grow my blog, increase my income, quit my job and have complete financial freedom. What then???
I have heard many people on ” The Lottery Changed My Life” talk about how the winnings affected them. Interestingly, I saw this documentary where they gave a homeless man $100.000 to see if he could use it to turn his life around. In addition to the money, they provided him with a financial advisor and a therapist.
The first thing that he did with the money was went out and bought a new truck. In addition to that, he bought vehicles for several of his family members, whom had not spoken to him in years; he also bought a house and got married. In short, less than a year later, he was back on the streets, going thorough a divorce and was now in debt. When they interviewed him again, he said that he was happier without the money.
I am just wondering how I would feel if I had total financial freedom and more importantly, who would I be. Having money is a big responsibility and should be seen as such. Sure I would like to travel a bit, but I have no desire of visiting every country in the world, live in a million dollar house or sky dive. It is just not who I am. So I decided to answer the question. The way I saw it was that it was critical for me moving forward.
So, to answer the question…I am a homebody. I love being home. I love to run, spend time with my family, volunteer, work/blog and do crafty things. I already have most of what I desire. What financial freedom would give to me is the ability to do more of each of these things in the way that I wanted to, some latitude to have a few exciting adventures along the way and the resources to give more back to the world and that is worth it.
Aside from paying down debt, what would you do with total financial freedom? How would it make you feel?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Lisa,
This is a great post idea and one that I was considering writing just to hear what the commenters would say.
I would spend my time doing the things that I want to. Work on my home, go to the gym, eat out more, travel more, etc. Money would allow me to expand my experience of life. When income is limited so is our experience even though there are creative ways to get what you want when you don’t have money.
I like what John Chow said about blogging to one of his commenters. They asked him how he was able to become so successful online. John’s answer,” It’s easy when you don’t have a job getting in your way.”
So true, we spend so much time in survival mode that we miss so much that life has to offer us.
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Hi Justin,
Thank you. Yes, I would be interested too.
Yes, expanding what I already do would be the way that I go too. Definitely eat out more–and at places I would generally not go because of their prices. I love that quote by John Chow. Yes, a job definitely gets in the way;-). However I am happy to have one while on my journey to problogging.
For me, complete financial freedom would be just that – freeing; liberating; relieving. I’m a stay-at-home-mom, so I blog, and I write, and I teach piano lessons, in the hope that somehow I’ll be able to make an income on it. My biggest problem (I think) is that I’m uneducated in the ways of how to do it, and I don’t have the money to learn. So I do my best and hope for the best. Nothing has come of it yet, but I have hopes for the future :-)
Hi Darci,
Thanks for stopping by. Freeing; liberating; relieving sounds wonderful! I took piano when I was younger. I have thought about picking it up again on and off, but am involved in so many other things. I am not a full-time, stay-at-home-mom, but feel like I still have my hands full with our nine month hold. Fridays are our days together. I spend my time chasing him around, wiping his nose and telling him that that the cat is not a toy. When you say “you want to make an income from it”, are you referring to your blog? I am on the same journey and may be able to help you in some way. I will contact you via your blog.