remodeling this life

I have a friend who is on a mission to get fit. She’s adopted a lifestyle of daily exercise and she’s cut the junk out of her house. She’s realistic about it though. She still indulges in birthday cake, takeout dinner after a rough day where she doesn’t want to do anything but lay on the couch. She even sometimes takes that daily exercise and skips a day!

When we talk about her habits and her motivation, it’s never that she wants to be thinner, or the thinnest. She wants a strong, healthy body. Because even though she already looks great and the number on her scale is one many would envy, health isn’t measured just by outside appearances and a number on a scale. She’s not in competition with anyone but herself to be stronger than she was last year, fitter than she’s been in years, and the other stuff will follow – sure, the number on her scale will (and has) gone down, and she’ll be thinner and fit smaller clothes. But if she made that her end goal, then when she got to that number, or that size, she’d have no motivation to continue.

The goal is health, and that is long-term. As fit as she’ll get, as thin as she’ll get, as small of a size she’ll wear is not top priority. Having a goal of being healthy makes her journey a lifelong one rather than short term.

I get to thinking about how this relates to finances. Personal finance is just that – personal. When I think of where my family is financially, it can get depressing if I compare it to others. But when I think about how it’s not all about numbers, it isn’t completely about the bottom line of who has the most saved and who will die with the most money. I just want to have what I need and what my family needs for all of our days.

The habits that get me there are what define my financial health. Living frugally, below my means, adding streams of income to add to our financial wealth. Making the choices daily – concentrating on my financial health – my awareness of where my money goes, how it’s saved, what I choose to spend on or not spend on are all more important than the bottom line. And just like with a healthy lifestyle of fitness and good nutrition, I will throw in an indulgence from time to time knowing that it won’t throw me off course for good. By doing those things, the rest will come. The bank accounts will grow.

For me, adopting a lifestyle of financial health is much more motivating than feeling like I have to reach x amount of dollars by a certain age or any other random numeric goal. I just want to do what I need to do each and every day to little by little, baby step by baby step, live a life that is financially healthy.