Making What You Have Enough or How to do What You Want in Life
On paper y'all, I'm considered working class and have been for the past 5 years since I left my left my last full-time job. Somehow I've managed to visit Mexico twice, the Philippines, finally made it to the West Coast, and I recently lived abroad in Mexico for six months.
This blog post was inspired by an instagram post from Brown Kids, E. and Roe, about wanting to travel and using the resources you already have to do so. One commenter, @hope.wanderer, stated, "I made up my mind and just did it" and that's really what it boils down to in this life. If you want to do anything, including travel, you have to make up your mind first (set the intention) and then do it (act).
Minimalism
I have to credit my minimalist journey with helping me understand my values and what I wanted for my life. Practicing minimalism has empowered me to live more freely. When I started transitioning to a minimalist lifestyle in 2012, I made up my mind about several things:
- I wanted to have more control over my time.
- I wanted to travel more.
- I wanted to have a healthier relationship with money.
I've done all these things in the past five years and I'm still going. So what do you need to do? Everyone's path is different, but here are some key actions that made all this possible for me.
Know what you want and why.
First of all, do you even know what you want? Sometimes it's easier to think about all the things we don't want, especially when life feels overwhelming, but you also need to know what you actually want to make space for in your life. We want to do so many things and we may do all of them . . . eventually, but you need to start with a specific goal. Pick one thing and create a plan. Prioritize what is most important to you at this point in your life and understand why.
Decide what you have is enough.
Once I knew I wouldn't be working full-time anymore and actually quit my job, I knew I was going to have to change how I managed my money and how I felt about money. Every now and then, I still feel some guilt about the money I wasted in the past and what I could've done with it. Hell, even living in Mexico, I struggled with the amount of money I spent, but guilt is a useless emotion. All I can do now, is get back on track and make better decisions going forward and recognize I'm blessed to have the awareness and experience of doing just that.
I've traveled more. I've started businesses. I've paid off non-student loan debts. I've given more to others. I've been present more. I've done it all and am still doing it on part-time streams of income and saving. I'm not going to miss out on living my dreams and goals based on the amount of money in my bank account.
Tips for making what you have enough:
- Stay focused on your goal.- Things will come up that challenge your commitment to your goal, but remind yourself often what you are working towards.
- Budget.- I credit Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University with teaching me about zero-based budgeting. Honestly, how strict I am correlates to the amount of money I'm working with and I'm still working on being strict no matter how much money I have, but I know for a fact that it works. Even a basic budget and understanding of where your money is spent is better than nothing.
- Save.- Take every opportunity you have to put something away for the future and your peace of mind. Not working full-time, I also wasn't saving automatically for my retirement. So I opened a Roth IRA and put the minimum I could afford into that account.
- Pay off as much debt as possible.- It's debatable if you should pay off all your debts first or save as you go, but it all depends on what your main goal is. For me, I chose to pay off all the lingering debts I had, not including my student loans, while saving as much as I could to travel and live abroad.
- Learn to say no.- To things, people, and situations that don't serve your goal.
- Follow through, even if it's not what you expected.
- Don't let setbacks take you out of the game and celebrate along the way.
What tips have helped you "make what you have enough"?
My 2018 Intentions
I wasn't going to share my 2018 goals and intentions, but ironically, one of my overall intentions for this year is to share more of my life in the digital spaces I frequent, so here we go.
With one week down in 2018, I'd say it's off to a great start, mainly because I started working on many of my goals and intentions in December. I've found the secret to starting off my new year right is to already have my plans in motion. That way, when the new year hits, I'm not scrambling to figure out what I'm doing with my life and how I'm going to make my intentions a reality. I think it also puts the right energy out into the universe that I'm serious about achieving my goals. So below, I'm sharing a few personal and business intentions I'm working on this year.
Personal Intentions for 2018
Flexitarian Diet
It's really a pescatarian diet that includes eggs. I've been pescatarian twice before, but this is actually my longest run. This last time, I started in June 2017 and I'm still going strong. I thought it would be difficult to maintain living in Mexico because they love meat here, but with the abundance of produce stands and markets, it's actually easier. I also eat less seafood than I have previously, but eggs are still a staple. I will share more about the reasons behind my most recent change as well as what I'm eating here in Mexico in future blog posts.
Healthy Financial Habits
I shared my financial struggles a while back on my Youtube channel. I started making changes at the end of 2016 when I realized I wanted to move abroad and really got serious in 2017. I managed to stick to my budget, pay off extraneous debts that had been lingering for a few years, carry a zero or low balance on my credit card most months, raise my credit score, and stay current on student loans. In addition to all that and even with some setbacks, I managed to save $6,000.
While my financial situation has changed while living abroad, my goal is to continue these habits in 2018. It's not about how much money you have, it's about how you use it. I'll be talking more about how I'm able to live abroad financially.
Visit a New Country
This is a stretch goal for me due to my new financial situation I mentioned above, but still, it's been almost two years since I've been to a new country. Living abroad in Mexico is a unique experience, but there's still a whole world out there to see. I'd love to go to Jamaica and even if I only cross the border into neighboring Belize or Guatemala, I'm going somewhere new.
Mastering Spanish
Becoming fluent in Spanish has been a goal of mine forever and it's one of the reasons I chose to live abroad in Mexico. You may not know, but I majored in Anthropology and Latin American Studies. I've had an interest in Latin American culture since middle school when I first discovered there were black folks living in Cuba. I studied Spanish for 8 years between high school and college and studied abroad in Cuba, still fluency has eluded me.
If you're not disciplined to study every day and you're not immersed in the culture, it's difficult to master a language. Fortunately, living in Mexico, I encounter Spanish every single day mostly through speaking and reading. I'm also studying grammar and vocabulary. My phones are also in Spanish. I can tell my Spanish has improved significantly just in the three months I've been here and all those Spanish classes are finally paying off.
Spirituality
This year I'm digging deeper into my personal magic. I believe we all have spiritual abilities, we just have to access them. For me, I've been learning about energy and crystals. I purchased my first crystals last year. I picked my meditation practice backup, using this app. I'm also learning about the energy and capabilities of plants. I've always been attracted to nature and believed that all living beings are connected and exchange energy. Mexico is also a magical place. Pueblos Magicos isn't just a marketing campaign. I knew from my first visit here in 2013, it was a special place and conducive to spiritual work. Spirituality is about balance, healing, growth, and discovery.
Business Intentions for 2018
Sharing More
This is a personal and business intention, so I'll talk about it first. I'm an introvert. It took me until I was 30 to understand it, but it's true. My intention has always been to share my life through this blog, but I've struggled with how to share my brand and my self. I decided to do less branding and marketing and more sharing. Stop worrying about having "on-brand" copy, graphics, and services and just put myself out there as is. I stripped this site down to my current diary, the archive, and my coaching. My goal is to share something somewhere (on at least one of my platforms) everyday. This could be in the form of posts, commenting, stories, video, reposts, it doesn't matter as long as I'm active.
Coaching
I haven't done a lot of coaching over the past year while working on the launch of Black Minimalists and I'm ready to get back at it helping you simplify you life and focus on your goals. I really enjoy seeing people make progress in their lives and accomplish things they didn't think were possible and playing any small or large part in that is a bonus. Looking for guidance on your minimalist journey, click here.
Minimalist Memoir
I don't remember if I mentioned this last year, but it's happening this year. I wrote all my minimalists stories in a special journal throughout 2017, now all I need to do is edit, format, and design it. I want to release it on my 35th birthday!
Jewelry Making
This was a struggle for me last year. I had a whole collection planned, I made several sample pieces, but it just wasn't meant to be. With the work I did last year and my new interest in crystals, I think I've found my inspiration for 2018.
Black Minimalists
We launched BM in May 2017 and the first 8 months have been great. We've grown significantly as a team and community and more folks are finding us everyday. I'm so grateful and happy this community exists. Stay tuned for big things with our one year anniversary coming up!
So there you have it. It seems the previous years have been all about laying the ground work and 2018 is all about manifesting the fruits of my work. I'm ready!