Wrapping Up Life!

Experiences are More Valuable than Stuff

We live in a little house and drive used cars.  Why?  Vacations!  I like my vacations to Hawaii, Alaska, Disney World, New York City, DC, Philly, Boston, San Francisco, The Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore.  Do I need to say more?  We also enjoyed our excursions to Egypt, Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, Belize, and Cancun.  Experiences are worth more in memories to cherish than the memory of the 4 walls I live in day to day.  There is no time for fancy and big when life has so much more to offer.

Our vacations were built on progression steps.  First, we camped in the backyard, then camped at a park.  Eventually, we went on road trips, cross-country trips, flew to different states to see cities, towns, and rode many roller coasters.   We visited monuments, battlefields, state and national parks, rode in cruise ships, river boats, kayaks, canoes, pontoon boats, airboats, trains, planes and many rental cars.  We stayed in motels and resorts, tents and cabins.  We saw the Northern Lights, castles, the Loch Ness Monster, Mickey Mouse, and a satellite launch at Cape Canaveral.  We have been to both oceans and their beaches from north to south, many rivers and their walks, stadiums, museums, and totem poles.  We have checked out festivals, wineries, glaciers, waterfalls and casinos.  There is no technology that can replace the experiences and memories that we created simply by putting experiences in a higher priority than our stuff.

Living Off The Land

This meant we learned to camp, fish, hunt, gardening, food preservation, cooking from scratch, and crafting tinctures and tonics from herbs, garden weeds, and flora.  We also dabbled in making wine and beer.  This should be basic life skills.  Pioneer.  Dabble in wood, glass, yarn art and get dirty living off the land.

Spiritualism

For many people, the art of forgiving is difficult to achieve.  At certain life milestones, spiritualism meant faith in God or maybe being alone with time to think things through, praying for hope, or yoga and meditation.  Most of all, there is no point in harboring grudges and stimulating ideas for revenge.  Learn to forgive and smile.  It is part of achieving happiness.  Find whatever way it works for you to be at peach with yourself.

Tithing

Tithing comes in many forms.  It can be volunteering time, being active in church or ministry.  It can be an act of donating to charitable organizations.  You can lead a cause.  I loved scouting because it taught me life values in citizenship, safety and first aid, outdoor exploration, crafting, civics, salesmanship, diversity in culture, and healthcare all while developing creativity and developing a leadership style.  It was an avenue for brainstorming, developing creativity, and problem solving.  I also developed passions here for the arts and entertainment to support them.  So even though I look for new restaurants and museums to crave for my own self pleasure; I choose a theater or sporting event in the six major cities that surround me to support economically.  It’s just part of giving back when you invest in your community.  It's my pleasure to support their economy.

Tithing can also be giving action or time just to be courteous, kind, and supportive.  Figure out ways to be kind to the human race and then teach that! 

Respecting the Climate and our Planet

It irks me that the supermarket aisles are lined with plastic containers.  99.9% of shoppers expect their groceries wrapped in plastic bags.  I can’t stand to see cars wrapped around a drive-through because of laziness. Idle….gas – guzzling laziness!

Just do your part, and park the car, and use cloth shopping bags; and buy goods that package with boxes or jars, if you can get away with it.  Personally, I am tired of 110 – 115 degree plus days that last for multiple weeks at a time.  Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! 

During the holidays, skip junky, pricey stuff.  Gift cards are nice; but not personable.  Opting in for tickets or passes to an experience instead of cluttering up your house.  I think we have Black Friday, Small business Saturday (which is wonderful), and better yet is charitable Tuesdays.  So now your bucks have dwindled by now.  It wouldn’t hurt if we had thrift shop Thursday.  One gift to ease the pain of something being tossed into the junkyard.  Put it this way:  every time you throw something out – throw it in your backyard, then the front yard.  Let me know when you can’t walk through it any longer.

Goal - Setting

The avenue to explore your career, passions, side-gigs.  The avenue that takes care of yourself, your family, friends, home, and automobiles.  These two avenues intersect.  Set goals to:

Stay healthy – for yourself, parents, kids, friends, home and vehicle.  Schedule time for maintenance, upkeep, repairs, pampering, and fun for all the things that are built around your livelihood.  Build relationships.  Make your home inviting and efficient.  Keep your vehicles maintained and neat as if they were a tax dependent.  Staying healthy does not just mean the work end of it, but also includes developing yourself, the manners in which to live by and have fun doing it.

Stay wealthy – learn to be attentive to details and efficient at processes.  Learn good communication skills that include listening and problem solving.  Be an expert at time-management.   Challenge yourself in your career. Learn how to promote yourself.

Get wise!  Explore passions.  Continue your education.  Improve your shortcomings.  Build confidence in getting those promotions.  Learn budgets and stick to routines.  Schedule, or in some cases, unschedule yourself to manage time better. Invest wisely. 

Review these areas:  ( in a time variance of short and long term goals -daily, weekly, monthly, annual routines)

1. Home maintenance and cleaning/improvements/repairs (check every room in the home including attics, basements, garages, and sheds)
2. Landscaping/Seasonal (pool, decks, patios, gardens, driveways, carports)
3. Family health maintenance and mental health routines (include close friends and pets)

• Exercise – workouts and classes/Extracurricular
• Grooming & Pampering
• Nutrition & Diet
• Health Check-ups and Appointments
• Getting Outside/ Screen time limits

4. Communications – email, snail mail, appointments, phone calls, family time (how was your day?), career path
5. Errands – grocery, gas, banking, pampered outings, dry cleaners, other shopping errands
6. Entertainment – family outings, date night, girls/ guys night out, kids activities, family & holiday reunions and events, family vacations
7. Finance – Investing, online banking, loans, and budgets
8. Projects – major home improvements, once and done goals, hobbies & crafting
9. Continuing Education – passions, hobbies, career, college (this is learning about stuff as opposed to making steps or timelines to carry it through)
10. Career Path – employer projects, side-gigs, promotions

A different Approach to setting goals is listing as follows

• Things I have to clean
• Things I have to Repair
• Appointments I need to make (maintenance) and keep
• Errands to Do
• Who Do I need to Follow up with?
• Classes/Workouts to take or do
• Online Research I need to Do
• Reservations/ Online Shopping
• Finance Review (bill paying, saving, investing, budgeting)
• Toss/Sell it/ Recycle it/Crafting/Projects Timelines
• Family/ Game Night/ Outings & Entertainment
• Monthly, Semi monthly, and Annual Reminders - calendering these so you follow up when its time to get it done.
• Menu Planning
• Vacation Planning & Bucket Lists
• Educational Goals
• Career Goals

And there you have it!  Ideas for a well-rounded existence.

And that's a wrap!