Letting Go – Getting The Free Feeling

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When was the last time you let go of something that was bothering you? Do you remember how you felt after letting it go?

The feeling of letting go is near and dear to my heart. Just before COVID started, I left the career I had worked towards most of my life.

This decision was scary and left me with many sleepless nights.

After making my decision known, I remember it was followed by the feeling of “What the hell did I just do?”

But at the same time, I felt as if there was a huge burden lifted off my shoulders.

You might not have done something as drastic as I did. Maybe it was something smaller, like finally cleaning out the garage or paying off the dang credit card.

I learn better with examples, so here we go!

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My Example – Debt

The example that I’m deciding to use here is debt. Mainly because it is one of the biggest burdens I have faced, and I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

I also wrote about it for my goals this year too. I guess this is more important than I originally thought.

Debt can be in many forms, but the most common ones include credit card(s), vehicle, mortgage, student loans, or even personal debt that you owe someone else.

It is the burden of debt that lurks in the back of your mind; you know it’s there, but it only sometimes comes out to the light of day.

As for me, I made a decision in 2017 that I would be debt-free by 2020. I chose this because I thought it sounded like a reasonable timeline, and 2020 seemed like it would be a great year. Boy, was I wrong?

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How I Eliminated Debt

Once you have an idea of what you want to eliminate, the main focus you need to have is to remove all the distractions.

In my debt example, I knew it would take a while. But during the journey, I learned a ton about myself and money.

I thought it would never happen.

After all, everyone I know seems to have some debt—many in the form of student loans, mortgages, or a car payment.

Everyone approaches distractions differently, and I could not devise a working way.

I knew I needed help and decided to start reading about money. If you know me, you know that one of my goals is to read more. So why not kill two birds? Two books made the most impact on me that were

• The Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich, by Ramit Sethi (read my review of it here)

What did I do?

I took both the above ideas and combined them to make my own hybrid debt remover.

I’m here to tell you that it worked great! I was able to achieve this goal, becoming debt-free before my deadline.

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Getting The Free Feeling!

Thanks for sticking with me here. This is the best part. The feeling free!

It took a few months for me actually to get the free feeling. It felt as though there was an elephant that was lifted off my shoulders. It was this that I am referring to.

One side note here. Please don’t get me wrong; when talking about debt, I still carry debt. But it’s on my credit card, and I only pay for stuff that I know I can pay off.

This was my decision as I enjoy getting points on the cards that I use for travel.

The main takeaway is that once you remove your debt, keep it that way.

Only buy things that you have the money for. You must do it if you need to do away with credit cards and only use cash.

I have a friend that actually froze his one credit card in a gallon of water. That way, if he needed to use it, he had time to really think if it was worth it.

My Realization

I realized I really liked the freeing feeling I received from paying off my debt. I also realized that I have everything I need and am good at saving.

So naturally, I decided to look at other areas of my life to cut the access fat away. Some of them include:

• Focusing on you
  • Workouts (this is an easy one. The endorphins also feel great)
  • Yoga
  • Meditation
  • Resting more
• Removing distractions
  • Destined to become a minimalist
  • Toxic people in your life
• Finding what makes you happy

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Focus On You

When was the last time you did something for yourself?

It’s always difficult because I realize I always put others’ needs before mine.

Over the next week, join me in trying to do three things every day.

1. The first one will be to sleep more. My goal is to get seven hours a night. Being someone that has always worked long hours and a lot of overtime. You will soon discover that only a few hours a night is insufficient. We all know sleep is important, and that is why it’s top on the list for this week.
2. Next, we are going to try and eat cleaner. If you have ever spent a night drinking, you know how crappy you feel the next day. What about if you eat clean for a week? What will that feel like? I am sure you will feel great, have more energy, and feel like taking on the world.
3. Last is going to fitness. It will be easy, though, and we will get moving for ten minutes daily. Everyone has ten minutes! It can be a quick stretching routine, a walk around the block, or going all out and hitting the gym. Personally, I love bodyweight workouts.

Our three things to do every day this week seem to be easy, and I know we can all do it.

You might have to change your mindset, but I know these three things we will do daily will be easy to accomplish.

If you want to do more, that is awesome, but the goal is to keep it simple. When the week is done (or when you decide to do this), I challenge you to leave a comment below and tell me how it went.

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Take Time For YOU

It’s funny to have an idea in my head to write about, and then the post goes in a completely different direction. But let’s see if I can tie it back to the beginning.

Let’s try and remove unwanted distractions in our lives together.

That could be debt (as in my long example from above), my simple three-point challenge for you, or trying to find out what makes you happy in this life.

Most of all, it’s important to take time out for yourself. I keep saying this because it took me a long time to figure that out.

Don’t forget to let me know how your week went. I want to know if you stuck with it and messed up a few times. It’s only a week, and I look forward to what you realize.