Time keeps on turning, turning, turning......

I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey. You know, the financial guru guy who tries to help people get out of debt. A lot of people are passionate about hating Dave because he has made a fortune trying to help people get out of debt. I don't understand this. Doctors make a fortune helping people get well. Do we hate them for that? He lives exactly what he teaches. That wealth can be built by following some basic principles. He's followed them and he's wealthy. Shouldn't that be encouraging to us??

Anyway, this isn't about whether Dave should be hated or not. One of the things Dave says that has always stuck with me is that if you don't tell your money where to go, it will get up and go on it's own and you will have no idea where it went. I'm paraphrasing here, but that is the gist of it.

Have you ever experienced that situation where you said you were going to save $500 out of this month's paychecks? Then you get to the end of the month and you only have $73 left (which you don't save because "why bother, it's only $73"). And you are like, "holy crap! where did I blow all that money"!! And you start adding it up. Well, there was that new tire you had to buy because you suddenly realized you could see silver wire sticking out of the side of your old one. And there was that graduation party you got invited to that you had to take a gift to. And then there was that lunch out with the girls because it was Mary's birthday and her husband wasn't in town and we couldn't let her be alone on her birthday. But, eventually you reach a stopping point and find that you are still $237 short of accounting for your lost money. That's happened to you, right?

Well, guess what this week is. This week is the one year anniversary of me quitting my job. This has definitely made me realize something. Time is exactly like money!!! If you don't tell your time where to go, it just goes on it's own and you have no idea where it went!! Brilliant, I know.

When I quit my job, the most exciting thing to me was that I would finally have time to lose weight!! It was very discouraging this week to realize it has been one year and to evaluate where I am now. I am 20 lbs lighter than a year ago. Now, the average doctor who is conducting a yearly physical would be thrilled to see that someone in their 40's is 20 lbs. lighter this year than last year. But, I was not thrilled. Mind you now, I was not DIScouraged! I'm not going to throw away the 20 lbs. weight loss because it wasn't the goal I was seeking. I'll take it! But I was disappointed that I haven't accomplished more.

I look at it this way. For the first time since I became a mother 20 years ago, I had time to devote strictly to myself. I had no job. I had no childcare needs. I had transportation to anywhere I wanted to go for exercise. At every point in the year I had access to a gym that we had already had a membership to or was free. I was healthy and physically able to participate in any weight loss activity. So, why only 20 lbs. when I needed to lose so much more and could have done it safely in a years time?

This is where we revert back to Dave Ramsey. I just didn't tell my time where to go. I didn't schedule my workouts on the calendar, didn't make them the priority of my day, and didn't tell myself how much of the week would be spent in the gym. So, now I sit here wondering where the year went. I know I spent atleast 6 days painting rooms in my house to sell it. I could add up all the time I spent at church and know it would be atleast a month of Sundays (not a bad investment, if I do say so myself). I know I spent 2 days on the road driving to CO. Hmmmm... wonder how many days I spent sitting on the toilet or taking a shower.... Shoot, I don't even want to figure out how much time I spent tending an imaginary frontier on Facebook! (But, I'm over that now).

So, starting today, my goal is to schedule my time, to tell it where to go so I have an accounting of what I did with it. When next June rolls around, I plan to be so busy enjoying my accomplishments that I don't waste any time trying to figure out what I did with all my time in the past year.

I have wanted to write a book since I was about 15 years old. That's a 26 year old dream. How, in 26 years have I not found the time to accomplish that? Guess what I need to do before next June!! What have you always wanted to accomplish? What are you doing with your time? Have you told your time to devote itself to your dreams? What will you accomplish in the coming year? What was I doing last New Year's when I should have been devoting time to setting new goals???

I have to finish this now. First, because I have said everything I need to say and any more will sound redundant and you will lose interest, if you haven't already. Second, because I have a scheduled 3-mile walk in 45 mins. in the Black Forrest with my walker-friend that I picked up on Craigslist! If it's on the calendar, it'll happen!!