Getting my finances in order: It’s not too late!

Emergency fund, passive income, active income, side hustle, stocks, dividends……these were financial terms that I didn’t become acquainted with until I was over 40. That age is significant because you see, my money habits were shaped by what I thought would have been happening around that age.

Let’s go back to when I was around 17 years old. I was speaking with a male friend (not a boyfriend) who was about 22 years old at the time. I can’t recall what we were talking about, but it eventually led to me ask him if he was getting married. His response stuck with me. He said he was not planning to get married because he didn’t think he would live past 40. And so I said to myself, ok, perhaps I won’t live past 40 either. I know. It’s weird, but that thought followed me around for the next 23 years. Every pain, in my mind, was a terminal illness. Imagine my “disappointment” when the test results always came back negative. I know. I know. It’s weird.

Fast forward to my 40th birthday and I started to plan a big fete to celebrate, half thinking “will I be around for it?” In the week leading up to the fete, a friend of mine who had been invited to the fete, passed away. She was younger than me. When the year ended, I thought to myself “maybe it [death] will come a year later.” Writing this now, I am thinking how silly that thought pattern was. But it was my truth, at the time.

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New Habit: Wake up earlier – Day 3 – Wednesday

As I started to prepare for bed after 11 p.m. last night, I yawned. Can’t remember yawning in a long time. Could it be that the exercise I did between 5 and 6 p.m. Tuesday, was going to help me fall asleep quickly?

Tuesday’s daytime activities

Ate breakfast while watching Wendy Williams (between 10 and 11 a.m.) then worked at home from about 11:45 a.m. to close to 5 p.m. Took mini breaks in between, of course. Ate a spoon of organic Almond Butter at about 2:30 p.m. I felt productive on Tuesday for sure. Yay for that. Would the good feeling last?

In the morning, I had set hourly reminders to drink water, after Googling the number of ounces in a gallon (128). I drink from a 20 ounce bottle and in my mind, I’d thought 4 was an achievement, then had my bubble burst when I realised I was 2 cups short. 😲 I fell behind. Water fills you up quite a bit!

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New Habit: Wake up earlier – Day 2

I am not going to go the self-betrayal route because I woke at 7:45 this morning, 45 minutes after the goal time.

Last night’s achievement was that I made it into bed by midnight, when it was shaping up to be later. I had shut my computer at 8:30 ish, then washed the dishes to continue the new routine of not waiting until just before bed to do it.

My ankle was sore so soaked it in warm water with Epsom salts, then applied ice while watching The Voice then When Calls The Hart. Before bed, I again put the yamfeet (or is it ‘yamfoot dem’?) back in warm water.

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New Habit: Wake up earlier – Day 1

Last week, I decided to challenge myself to start waking up earlier from today. I am eventually aiming to be up by 6 a.m., but will be easing into it. The aim this morning was to be up and out of bed by 7 a.m.

Bedtime routine

Beginning with the end in mind, i.e. the desired wake up time, I had to get into bed earlier. The habit has been to work late, then realise I have to do things to prepare for bed e.g. wash the dishes, pack away things etc. Sunday I decided I wasn’t doing any work. After dinner at about 6 p.m., I washed the dishes. Puttered around a bit (that’s language to mean “I don’t remember what I did!”). Then I settled on the couch to watch “When Calls The Heart” on Netflix. I was disciplined and only watched 3 episodes, shutting down my device at 10:24 p.m.

Normally, once I get into bed, I’d read my social media accounts. Sometimes 1.5 hours would pass! That is now a no-no. What to replace that with? Making a journal entry. So that’s what I did.

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Shaking off my Friday Night Funk

“And so what if I just remain fat?”

This was the message which set off alarm bells and caused some to ask “what’s wrong?”

What led me to feel this way and resulted in me turning into the KFC drive-thru?

Work. More specifically, continuously feeling like I am hitting my head against a brick wall for initiatives which will make the employees better.

So I left work Friday pissed, so pissed that the only thing I felt could help me blow off steam was junk. (I paid dearly next day for having eaten the crappy food.). And I felt like I wanted to detach from the world.

After a few messages and calls Friday and Saturday, I did the self talk, dusted myself off and decided not to wallow. The other thing which shifted my perspective was overhearing a conversation between two ladies on Saturday night. 

“[Name of man friend] is always drunk. Drunk every day. He is verbally abusive to me.” 😔

Well, life is not so bad for me then.

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21/03: The weigh in…

First thing Monday morning I was at the gym to weigh in and get measured.

The results? Continue reading

Gym episode 20/03: Last chance workout…on my own

Damion Daniel was unavailable to train me on Sunday. Although I was accustomed to working out on my own all these years, I have come to rely on him pushing me to, as he told me, where my body has never gone before. Let’s see what I could put together for this “last chance workout,” still under his watchful eye as he was in the gym.

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Gym episode 18/03: Progress

As the end of the 40 day challenge draws near, I can feel the progress I have made. And the reality is I have not had to do anything too drastic. Well except that the Christmas pudding is sitting in the freezer. Funny enough though, I haven’t craved it. THAT is certainly progress.

Exercise for today was the last of Bambi’s class at work. Like I did Monday, I carried my skipping rope and weights to continue working out after. Worked up a really great sweat.

This was lunch on Friday. The chicken was seasoned with only lemon rind, garlic and coconut oil. No salt. Yummmy!

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Gym episode 17/03: Back-to-back session

It’s kinda rough having back to back sessions with the Trainer. He pushes me to go full throttle so I am spent at the end of it. But without a choice, I laced up my sneakers and headed to the gym…..and one hour earlier too! I must really like working with him. Those who know me well, know that I am not a morning person AT ALL.

This morning, I had to have steely resolve to get through the workout. Something had upset my sleep on Wednesday and I woke up twice during the night. Damion always stresses that the mind needs to drive my workouts. Mind, are you present?

Warm up went well enough.

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We did squats on the stationery machine (Smith?) “But didn’t we do squats yesterday?” is my retort when I have to do them on consecutive days. His usual response is “yeah…ok let’s go.” :?:? No sympathy. But it’s good for me.

The trainer had been putting me through a more cardiovascular workout this week so everything had to be done quicker to get the heart rate up. So yes, I huffed and puffed my way through the workout.

At the end of it all, I felt exhilerated, knowing that I was rather tired. It made it all the more worthwhile when I could fit into a jacket which I had not been able to wear in months. It couldn’t even button up back then. 🙂

I mark off my workouts on a calendar at work. Entering today’s session felt particularly satisfying. I can feel my body accepting the challenges I have thrown at it.

Gym episode 14/03: More, more, more

Started out the day with a healthy smoothie.

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Exercise today was going to be with Bambi at work. I had already decided that I was going to do more so had packed the skipping rope and my weights. Turns out that Bambi was unable to come. I was extremely grateful to two of my colleagues who decided to lead a session. I am sure I would not have exercised without that start.

After their session was done, I continued with my skipping and other exercises. I was dripping wet after, and feeling very pleased with myself for doing more.

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