Saturday I had a chance to wander around a book store, something I hadn’t done in a while. While there a book caught my eye, and I had to get it. It summed up the problems with our money so well and at the same time so many other things. “You’re Broke Because You Want to Be…”
I haven’t finished it yet, but so far it is plain unadulterated common sense, stating that wanting to change is not enough to change. You have to get off your butt and take action. You (ahem, *I*) have to make the changes that start you on the road to what you want. My actions speak louder than my words about what I want, and if I say I want something and yet all my actions are working against that, then what do I really want? What do I really expect?
There are so many ways I need to apply this –
You are only ________ because you want to be:
Fat – wanting to be thin isn’t enough, wanting to change my eating habits and exercise won’t make me thin. Stopping junk food and getting off my butt might.
Broke – well that is what the book is about. If I want to get out of debt but don’t save money, then will I ever get out of debt?
Messy – there are so many jobs I ignore, put off, and let gnaw at my subconscious. What could I do about that?
A Yelling Parent – See all of the above, my frustration and lack of peace leads me to take out my feelings on those around me, my children and myself.
A Substandard Wife – see the Yelling Parent part.
Does it sound like I am getting down on myself? Maybe I am a little, but all I want is to be the kind of person that I would look up to. I think I am much closer to that than I was 10 or even five years ago. But that doesn’t mean I should stop working on myself to be a better person. I like me, most of the time anyway. I don’t know if this book was worth what I spent on it in full, but sometimes you just have to see the obvious in print in front of your own nose, at least I did. Hopefully I won’t forget it again too soon.
So here begins the journey (or continues one abandoned or procrastinated in the past) of connecting my actions to what I really want.
