Inspired!

A few months back (maybe a little more than just a few...) my wife and I started looking over our finances with a level of intensity that we had never before considered.  Up to that point, my philosophy on finances was, if things were tight, I just needed to work harder and make more and ignore the fact that we had no plan, budget or goals.  Of course, my incredible wife had tried without success on numerous occasions to talk some sense into me and convince me of my greatly lacking abilities with regards to financial matters (I made and make way more than your average high school graduate, to the point of making quite a number of college grads quite jealous and resentful, but that's another story..).  And I, for my part, ignored her, and worked harder to hide my 'stupid'.  And it seemed to work...sometimes.  We would get way ahead with all the credit cards paid off, the cars paid off, great equity in the house, and everything would seem awesome in our world.  Then I would come up with some new wacko business venture/idea and say to myself 'It always works out, let's jump in over our heads again'.  And out come the credit cards, and some car/truck/vehicle suddenly seems like something I can't live without, and line of credit loan seems to be the ONLY solution to getting things rolling, and and and and and.... Back in the hole we go.  My 'work harder' mentality takes over, and things eventually start to be less painful, credit card balances usually go down (sometimes not as fast as I pretend they do), and we almost get back to square 1 before my next 'Big Idea' surfaces to set us back on the roller coaster.

I would call it the circle of life, but it's definitely not a life I would choose when I look back and perform an autopsy on the outcome/results of the cyclical mess.  And where do we go from here?  I (we) were utterly sick of making quite decent money, and having little more than debts to show for it.  So I finally allowed my wife to begin to talk some sense into me (did I mention that she is amazing, smart, incredible, and extremely patient with me? I definitely married up!).  She pulls out a Dave Ramsey book (The Total Money Makeover) and suddenly my (our) financial world changes overnight.  Everything I have always 'known' about money, finances, debt, interest, etc.. is laid out in such a straight forward, no-nonsense, motivational, and inspirational way that I cannot look at debt without hatred and utter animosity ever again!  And that is just the tip of the iceberg!  As we gained (and continue to gain) a grasp on budgeting and debt annihilation, everything in my life is gaining such great clarity and momentum.  Business, family, church, you name it, I am gaining such focus and intensity that I feel like I could fly!  You know those great dreams you had when you were a kid, the ones where you could fly?  And as you grew older, it became more and more difficult to fly or control flight, until finally you were 'grounded'!  I realized a couple weeks ago that I was flying in my dreams again!  Not all dreams, and not every night, but the Hope and Joy filling me again are having a profound impact on my life, and I have great visions and aspirations again!  Life is no longer just about working harder to hide my stupid financial shortcomings.  I feel a passion and excitement that have been waning and/or gone for years!  And it just keeps getting better!  So starts a fabulous and eternal journey, come FLY with me!