WHAT’S THE MONEY FOR?

Often we set financial goals and we are doing great achieving them and then life happens. Something comes along that is unexpected and income must be diverted to managing that issue rather than going to the bottom line of profit.

It’s easy to feel like what’s the point of setting goals when the unexpected can happen at any time and put a wrench in everything. When is it “safe” to count on that profitability and use it for goals rather than having it as a reserve “just in case”? How can you possibly know an amount for “just in case” when the magnitude of the unexpected is unknown?

These are all great and valid questions. What if we were able to count on the unexpected in positive ways to the same degree we count on it in negative ways? For me, this is a life skill that takes a lot of practice.

It is so easy to be in fear of the unknown, we certainly have lots of evidence that bad things happen all the time. The longer we are alive, the more life experiences we have that show us that.

What if we were to stop and take into account all the amazing things that happen?  

I know for me my ego steps in and says, “Well I worked really hard to make those things happen”. But when bad things happen, or things I perceive as bad, then it’s so much easier to be a victim than it is to find the learning in the experience.

Learning that will most likely be setting me up to win for something bigger that is coming down the road.

As a parent, I remember when my daughter was young the parenting teachings of how important it was to teach children life lessons when the consequences were relatively small so that when they were older and the consequences were greater they would know how to behave or make decisions so that they would not suffer the greater consequences. For example, how to balance a checkbook so they do not incur overdraft fees for bounced checks. Recovering from a $50 bounced check is significantly easier than recovering from a $5000 bounced check.

While the bounced check may appear to be a negative lesson the truth is it is a valuable lesson that will have a positive impact going forward. So was it a bad thing to learn the lesson? Might feel like it in the moment.  

Therein lies the life skill of being able to look at the lessons in life from a place of “Isn’t that interesting, what is the valuable lesson for me here that I can apply in the future?” Sometimes the lessons are many and we won’t truly understand them until something else comes along in life.

So here is to enjoying the journey, no matter what it is, knowing that everything happens for good, even when it’s hard to understand in the moment.

Sue