A Woman Simplifiying Her LifeWritten by Judi Singleton
As a woman there is so many times a day that I have to redefine myself that I sometimes get lost in redefining. How about you do you long to simplify your life. What does that even mean? As I read about this and listen to women in networks at Ryze
it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. All of them say have a clear vision of where you want to go in life. You don't need to know how you will get there yet, just know where you want to go. Now that implies to me that I have taken time to analyze, dream and visualize where I want to go. I have spent time seeing what I really value. It also implies that I have given myself time to find out about me. Have a clear understanding of your values and what is important to you. I have so many things that are important to me. I hardly know where to begin making list and then prioritizing it is overwhelming sometimes. So I don't do it. But I do make some lists and accomplish something everyday. Write down some of goals you would like to achieve. Look at each goal to determine if they match with your vision and values. My top goals right now are to pay off all my bills including my house. I bought a financial plan that is helping me to do this. I have only started my financial plan, I have been doing it for about six months now. I have been very disciplined in achieving this goal. I like feeling of empowerment this gives me. To do this in a timely manner I have to find a way to make more money. I have conceived of three business I can run on internet. I have started toward that goal. I do two steps forward and three steps back some of time. But I am moving toward that goal. The whole point in doing this is to pay all my bills off and be able to live anywhere that I want not being dependent on living in a place because that is where employment is. I also will pay off my home and sell it. I will then have money to buy a home that is a lot less money in a different part of country and have some money left over for improvements and to live on. Get rid of any that do not match. Choose one or two of these goals to begin with. Allow yourself to put other goals away for time being. Having too many goals will only create havoc and chaos. I feel that often I am scattered but some goals can't be just focused on exculsively. I am trying to paint inside of my house and during Summer months paint outside. I have to keep my house repaired for it to be worth any money. I also have to work. I work a twelve hours day four days a week. Then there is mundane things like cleaning house, shopping for food, preparing best food I can find for me. I am also haunted by a need to find a new way of looking at myself now that I am aging. I need to love myself to accomplish any of my goals. I also have to carve out time each day to exercise, to do yard work and to keep myself up for work.
| | Sucessful AgingWritten by Judi Singleton
I started thinking about this subject just in December. Oh I had thought of it before but no really at intensity I have been thinking about it lately. I got hurt on job in December, 04 and it brought to forfront "What if I could no longer work?" My doctor told me he thought I should change occupations. I am a in-home-caregiver for elderly. It is like shoemakers kids that have no shoes. I deal with aging results and planning or lack of planning daily on my job. So I am more aware of problems than most people. However, in my own life I had not done much about planning. I had just frankly been too busy making a living. I only finished up raising last of my kids about ten years ago. I since then bought a house which most people do in their 20's and I did too but sold it because I was a single Mom and it was too much upkeep. I began though with buying that house to do some financial planning. I had not had credit in years. My credit scores became very good. I did not use my credit wisely because even at this late age in life I knew very little about managing my money. I knew how to survive as a single Mom and did a pretty good job of raising my children but I certainly never had a lot of extra money. So financial planning never really entered picture. Well, I digress, I did make some sacrifices to buy this house. I lived in with a lady for five years and saved money I would have paid on rent for a down payment on a house. I have been in this house since six years. I also have run up a great deal of debt. I have school loans which I finish my college degree at a very late date. They are as much as I would have paid for a house a few years ago. I also have quite a lot of credit card debt which was just plain living beyond my means. I now have bought a financial plan that gave me a strick plan to get out of debt and pay off my house within ten years. This is really first real planning I had done as far as aging went. The counselor said to me what is payoff for this plan? I just didn't know. Then I thought well what I want is to pay off all these debts and my house. Then next I want to sell my house and find another one in a less expensive area. I also began a plan of having three business online. If I could have my own online business which I could make a good living at then I could work from anywhere. I have not gone much beyond that. Now I guess my next steps are to work on business that I am going to try and build. Continue with my financial plan to pay off my debts. I also need to get a funeral plan, a will, a health care directive and write to my children what I would like done with my personal belongs. I have come across a site on immortality that I intend to explore completely. I thought that it was about wanting to live forever but more I read of it more I think it is about quality of life. I read a lot of other stuff In Encyclopedia of Aging, Palmore (1995) says that a comprehensive definition of successful aging "would combine survival (longevity), health (lack of disability), and life satisfaction (happiness)." (p. 914). Additionally, some gerontologists have discussed similar issues using different terms such as "adjustment" or "adaptation" to aging.
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