There’s no use crying over spilled milk. This old adage, apocryphal as it may be, helps to remind us that instead of looking back, we must look forward.
Imagine what would have happened if I just forever dwelled on my huge student debt. Owing more than half a million dollars at the age of twenty six is a massive hurdle. If one spent all day thinking about it, it would have drive one insane.
The truth is, it almost did. There were nights where I would lie on our carpet floor wallowing in my own self-pity, unable to get up and do anything because the metaphorical weight was physically too much. There were days when I wondered whether my very existence was even worth it, where I questioned what my purpose was in this world. None of this helped me get rid of the debt.
Eventually, I had enough anger in me to try, well, just about anything.
So I took a step forward.
The first thing I did was let bygones be bygones. The deed is done, and we can’t turn back time (at least, not yet).
This grace for yourself is part of the process of budgeting. And it must be present throughout the entire journey. Without the ability to let go, you will always return to the question, “Is any of this worth it?” You will find a million reasons why you should quit. “I’ve taken out too much to make a difference”, “I keep falling back to bad habits”, and “I am not good enough to change” are all excuses that our brains concoct in order to stop us from continuing on.
But with grace, we can overcome all of this, move on, and budget forward.
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