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We've all heard the expression "time is money", it is rooted in our consumerist, materialistic culture. My focus right now is on the sister sentiment, that money is time...every single penny that I spend I have to earn, and so I have to spend my time generating money to keep my and my family's lives afloat. This means that every take-out, I have to work a certain amount of time to pay for; every wasted dinner, ever tray of Pepsi Max, every journey in the car, every pair of shoes or cardigan or toy...everything has to be paid for by me, and by MY time. While there is a certain amount of money, and therefore time, that is required and will always be required to keep my family in a standard I am happy with, every single moment above and beyond that essential level is time that I would MUCH rather spend with my children or my friends. And so, money is time.
With that in mind, I want to radically reduce the amount of money we spend and therefore the amount of time I need to spend working to earn said money. I don't believe that Scot is on-board with this, he is not affected by the cost side of this equation and he lives the life I want, spending more time with our children, so he appears less motivated to address this and I find that very difficult to deal with and at times so does he. This is yet another moment where I have to accept that this is my reality now, and either I change that reality or I accept how it is and make the most of it. I am trying hard to accept it, but it is a very bitter pill at times. I am the victim of my success and my hard work, and my children have to pay for that in terms of having reduced time with me so that they can benefit from it in terms of having a comfortable standard of living.
My quest now is to find the sweet spot. This is a major priority due to the stress it causes, and the strain it sometimes puts on our relationship and on our family life. It is very, very easy to let things drift along because the easiest option is always to do nothing, however if I manage to simplify other areas of my life it should make focusing on this core issue not only easier, but inevitable. The trick is to clear a bit of head space to focus on this core priority, instead of just running on the hamster wheel at full-speed, getting nowhere and realising I'm nowhere when I'm retiring and my beautiful babies have grown up and I've missed everything. The truest form of FOMO there is.
With that in mind, I want to radically reduce the amount of money we spend and therefore the amount of time I need to spend working to earn said money. I don't believe that Scot is on-board with this, he is not affected by the cost side of this equation and he lives the life I want, spending more time with our children, so he appears less motivated to address this and I find that very difficult to deal with and at times so does he. This is yet another moment where I have to accept that this is my reality now, and either I change that reality or I accept how it is and make the most of it. I am trying hard to accept it, but it is a very bitter pill at times. I am the victim of my success and my hard work, and my children have to pay for that in terms of having reduced time with me so that they can benefit from it in terms of having a comfortable standard of living.
My quest now is to find the sweet spot. This is a major priority due to the stress it causes, and the strain it sometimes puts on our relationship and on our family life. It is very, very easy to let things drift along because the easiest option is always to do nothing, however if I manage to simplify other areas of my life it should make focusing on this core issue not only easier, but inevitable. The trick is to clear a bit of head space to focus on this core priority, instead of just running on the hamster wheel at full-speed, getting nowhere and realising I'm nowhere when I'm retiring and my beautiful babies have grown up and I've missed everything. The truest form of FOMO there is.
