Inspired by Bertha.
My friend Bertha (who is actually my friend Jane’s sassy alter ego) recently posed a musing on Jane’s Facebook page: “The only way to stick to a budget…whether it’s for time, money, or a diet…is to include things you love.” This musing prompted Jane to ask the question, “How do you budget for the things you love?”
A question I thought very valuable and provoking because I don’t budget for these things. What I have done instead is created an active change to my thought process. A change that is, truth be told, still being cultivated. It is an on going process that takes continued practice because it is contrary to the things we see in mainstream media and different from how many of us were raised.
Budgeting to include the things I love can sometimes be seen as an implication that to have time, money, diet, etc I have to typically exclude those loved things. Whereas I actually see this as choosing.
This is the change in thought process – the choosing.
When I used to diet, I excluded certain foods. I had reasons for their exclusion – donuts, corn chips, cheese dip, these things are not going to get me to the shape I want. Sitting on the couch instead of taking a walk isn’t going to get oxygen into my lungs. Watching violent TV and movies isn’t going to get me to the mindset I want. Nagging, depressed friends aren’t going to help me move forward with my goals and dreams. Random, uncontrolled spending isn’t going to get me out of debt and into my freedom goal.
The change is in the choosing.
Do I choose to spend this $50 on these shoes today? Or do I choose to add that $50 to my debt resolution pot so I can be financially free?
Do I choose that donut and the sugar high/crash that will come with it and the icky feelings later? Or do I choose this apple with nut butter that tastes even better and gives me nourishment?
Sit or walk?
Clean the garage or build the website?
This or that? Every decision is a choice.
All of these things are choices. Which will you make today?
To read more Bertha-isms, find Jane at http://janecarrollauthor.com
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