Onward and Upward

Hey... It's me! 

My 40s are long gone, and it's time to move on from this blog. So, come join me on my new travel blog where I share adventures near and far - from road trips to cruises, how I got interested in traveling, and more!

My new travel blog is: Jill the Explorer

Bon voyage...

Are You Thriving?

Did you know that we were made to thrive? In the last part of John 10:10 in the Amplified Bible, Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]." That sounds like thriving to me! I don't know about you, but...

There's a song called Thrive by Casting Crowns that has already become an anthem for me this year. Here are the lyrics:

Here in this worn and weary land
Where many a dream has died
Like a tree planted by the water
We never will run dry

So living water flowing through
God we thirst for more of You
Fill our hearts and flood our souls
With one desire

Just to know You and to make You known
We lift Your name on High
Shine like the sun made darkness run and hide

We know we were made for so much more
Than ordinary lives
It's time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive

Into Your word we're digging deep
To know our Father's heart
Into the world we're reaching out
To show them who You are

So living water flowing through
God we thirst for more of You
Fill our hearts and flood our souls
With one desire

Just to know You and to make You known
We lift Your name on High
Shine like the sun made darkness run and hide

We know we were made for so much more
Than ordinary lives
It's time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive

Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable,
Love unstoppable, anything is possible

Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable,
Love unstoppable, anything is possible

Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable,
Love unstoppable, anything is possible

Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable,
Love unstoppable, anything is possible

Just to know You and to make You known
We lift Your name on High
Shine like the sun made darkness run and hide

We know we were made for so much more
Than ordinary lives
It's time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive

We were made to thrive

2022: The Year to T H R I V E !

Happy New Year!

About a month ago, I knew what my 2022 word for the year would be:

"How do you plan to do that?" you may ask. "We're still in a pandemic. What is there to THRIVE about or in?"

Well, there's plenty! We can THRIVE physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, psychologically, and more! We don't have to be a "living victim" of Covid-19... We can choose to not just survive, but to live and THRIVE!

Weird, but good!

Something was different today, and it took me most of the day to figure out what.

It was usually around the 22nd of the month that payment on my line of credit was due. And this month - for the first time in years! - I had no payment to make! Woohoo! It was strange and wonderful, and weird but good - oh, so good!

In case you haven't heard yet...

  I ' M   D E B T   F R E E ! ! !

 

#86 - Get out of debt

The last few years of paying off my debt has been a L-O-N-G journey and a hard journey. I am slightly ashamed to say that although I dug this hole of debt all by myself, I really wanted (and was half hoping, half expecting) someone else would get me out of it. Now that's mature thinking, isn't it?

Once I finally decided this was my mess to clean up and really leaned into it, I began to see my situation change. I am incredibly pleased to say I finished paying off my debt in 19 months!

Was it easy? Certainly not. Was it fun? Definitely not. Was it worth it? Oh yes!

I'M DEBT FREE!

T-2 Weeks 'til I'm Debt Free!

I almost can't believe it! In two weeks - when I get paid at the end of this month - I will be debt free! It feels so good and so freeing to know my remaining debt total is under $1,000. There truly is light at the end of the tunnel! I can do this!

This last year and a half since I decided to push through and get rid of my debt has been challenging to say the least. I have fought, cried and wanted to give up so many times. My debt battle has taught me patience, perseverance, strength and endurance - all of which I thought I had (and maybe did), but I have grown stronger in each of these areas.

I encourage everyone to take charge of their future by dealing with their past, whether this means financially, emotionally, physically, etc. Having debt is living life in the past - you are paying for what you've already consumed or experienced - and saving is planning for the future. Using a car analogy, do you want to live your life looking through the rear-view mirror (debt) or looking through the windshield (saving and planning)? I choose the windshield. I hope you do too.

Hope springs eternal...

Have you always known what you wanted to be when you grew up? Perhaps you've had a long-range life or career goal to work towards? If so, good for you!

I've always been intrigued by different career options, but I've never had a clear direction. As a young child, I want to be a clown (to make people laugh) and a firefighter (to help people). As a teen, I was all over the map with my interests. I wanted to be a pilot. Who didn't when you watched Danger Bay every day? I wanted to be an interior decorator - until I found out you needed strong math skills. Archeology would be fun too, but how do you train for that? I wanted to make crafts and sell them, but there was no way to make enough of a living doing that. I thought about cleaning houses, but that was shot down for financial reasons as well. Oh, and I wanted to be a florist too.

Throughout my 20s and 30s, I tried my hand at various things. While it was helpful to rule out what I didn't want to pursue, the dots still weren't coming together for me.

Fast forward to my 40s where I've gotten closer to figuring out what to pursue. I've looked into a number of things including studying history, becoming a library technician, and even training to be an editor. However, none of these were still quite right.

You've heard the saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees"? When you are too close to a situation, you need to step back and get a little perspective. If you look at things one at a time, you might not realize that branches of separate "trees" go together to make a "forest."

Well, in hindsight, I see that's exactly what I had been doing. Here are my "trees":

• Words
• Proofreading
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Editing
• Fact-checking
• Paraphrasing
• Reading
• Word puzzles/games
• Blogging
• Research
• Transcription
• My job at Hansard
• And probably much more!

Enter God. All it took was a few words: "I created you to be a writer."

I was shocked and amazed, happy and relieved! After 25 years of being an adult, I finally knew what it was God had created me to be! Writing was my forest, and I honestly could not see it for all those trees - the bits and pieces I enjoyed.

Talk about hope! I have so many options now! I can write about whatever and whoever I want wherever and whenever. This brings so much freedom! Wow.