Tag Archives: finances

Essays, Writing

💎 My WHY:

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All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I build wealth to rewrite the story — to bless those I love, heal the wounds behind me, and create a life of joyful abundance, generosity, and freedom for all who walk beside me.

✨ Why This Works:

  • “I build wealth to rewrite the story”
    ➤ Acknowledges that my path is one of transformation and conscious re-authoring of generational patterns.
  • “To bless those I love”
    ➤ Centers my heart-based motivation to support friends and family.
  • “Heal the wounds behind me”
    ➤ Honors the lineage and the pain I’m transmuting through my journey — a true act of generational healing.
  • “Create a life of joyful abundance, generosity, and freedom”
    ➤ Highlights the quality of life I’m manifesting — not just money, but liveliness, joy, and choice.
  • “For all who walk beside me”
    ➤ Speaks to the shared nature of my success — that my elevation raises the collective.

(I am doing the writing exercises in the back of the book You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero, and this topic was about coming up with a “Why” for wanting to create wealth. I am also learning to trade futures, so the art is related to the charts we use to make the trades.)

Essays, Writing

Think and Grow Rich – Book Review

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I’m learning day trading, and I joined an organization of women learning trading skills. One of the activities they coordinate is an online book club that reads one book per month about either financial habits, abundance mindset, or trading. They also have recordings of their weekly discussions going back to October of 2024. Being the overachiever that I am, I am going back and reading the past books they covered and watching the recordings. Because I have never felt confident in my financial literacy, I figure it can’t hurt to learn as much as possible before I ever attempt to trade with real money. Everything I am doing currently is with a demo account they call paper trading. There is no real money involved.

The first book I heard the tail end of was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It sounded intriguing, so I found a used copy and got started reading. Boy, was I in for a ride. Yes, there were some interesting tidbits, but mostly I was repeatedly horrified by the outdated examples of financial geniuses we were supposed to admire. Charles Schwab was regaled for many a chapter. The same Charles Schwab who was just in the news for being in the oval office with President Trump laughing about the enormous amounts of money he made when the stock market plummeted. Yikes.

There are so many things in this book that I find reprehensible that I don’t even know where to begin. Mr. Hill refused to allow his son, who was born without ears, to learn sign language because he believed his son would someday hear. He drilled hard work and determination into his boy and was proud of the fact that he never allowed his son to have accommodations for his hearing loss. His son’s future success is provided as evidence that his way is the right way, and the fact that his theories are based on 20 years of interviews following rich and powerful people.

Robert E. Lee is praised for his courage in siding against the union, knowing he and many others were putting their lives on the line for their cause. Booker T. Washington is praised for his tolerance and described as someone handicapped by race. Anyone in poverty is there because they have accepted poverty as their fate and succumbed to a lowly state rather than doing all the right things to make themselves rich. Unions, organizing, or criticizing capitalism are evidence of stupidity and small minds because there is no possible way to have an organized, civilized, functioning lifestyle if the giant capitalistic machinery is not in charge of it all. All people should gladly praise the powers that be for their brilliance in making our lives better with their riches.

Ahem…I almost couldn’t get through the book. Then I got to the spot I started listening to in the weekly book club gatherings and was reminded that I liked the ending. The last third of the book is much more tolerable and focuses on concepts I can get behind. The ideas center on finding mentors and experts in the fields in which we want to better ourselves or learn more about. There are brilliant examples of visionary exercises that can be done to deepen our awareness of our subconscious connection to wisdom and theories about creativity and drive that are quite excellent. There is an entire section on developing intuition and overcoming fear that are wonderful practices for all areas of life, not just financial growth.

I cannot recommend this book to anyone because the outdated parts are simply too icky, in my opinion. It says it has been revised and updated for the 21st century. If that is so, I don’t even want to imagine what the original version included.

Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich. Jeremy P Tarcher, 2007.

Health, Writing

A Year Has Passed

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Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-sitting-on-the-couch-wiping-her-sweat-with-tissue-7195033/

It has been a year to the day since my last post and I am in a very different place emotionally. Last year, I was much more hopeful and excited about healing, beginning a new school year, finishing my Master’s, and the restful summer I had experienced. Today, I am tired…tired of the Texas heat, tired of dealing with the nonsense required in the teaching field, tired of living paycheck to paycheck, tired of being unable to afford the medical care I need to be healthy and thrive, tired of not having the time or energy to write.

I have decided that I do not like the road I am traveling and need to make some changes. I have wished and dreamed of making change but kept my focus on priorities that are not in line with the reality of the new adventures I want to pursue. I hereby declare that I am no longer putting energy into goals that line up with my previous pursuits. I am going to do what is required of me day to day to meet my obligations, but I am going to reserve the purist, most energetic, liveliest parts of myself for my creative pursuits and begin in earnest to create the reality I yearn for.

All I know is that I want to work remotely, write, be creative, and make enough money to be comfortable and pay for my medical needs. I’m putting it out there and beginning my journey. I’m tired of being tired.

Health, Writing

What is to be done? – (Day 19)

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Today’s assignment is the completion of yesterday’s complaints/grievances.  I was supposed to consider anything I could do to improve any of those areas.

Pain – I have been trying everything suggested to manage my pain.  I will continue to try different things until I find an answer.  At this moment, I do not have a satisfactory solution.  If I had one, I would quickly employ it.  I do not want to take medications that could become addictive or have other unhealthy side-affects.  I use chiropractic care currently and take some anti-inflammatories when I can barely cope.  Ice helps, as does rest.  Mostly, I cry, and moan, and shift positions until I can bear the discomfort temporarily.

Excess Weight – I joined Weight Watchers and tried pretty hard for about a month.  Then I didn’t try very hard for about a month.  I suppose I should try again (I’m stuck for at least another month in order to get one of my months back free.)

Joint Problems – See pain…except that I know I need to get back to my stretching to improve my flexibility.

Too much Housekeeping – I need to streamline my chores, actually do them regularly, ask David to do more, and continue to declutter so there is less to clean.

David’s Dog – I try not to do much related to Aiko.  I need to encourage David to get her into obedience training, though.

Low Energy – Not sure on this one.  I’m getting enough sleep.  Maybe weight loss and less pain could improve the low energy.

Ungrateful Children – Not much I can do here, but I can let my kids know when they have hurt my feelings and set some boundaries when I feel taken advantage of.

Depression – Again, I don’t want to take medication.  In the past there have been too many side affects.  I think the weight, pain, joint problems, and energy are all connected to the depression.

Unpleasant Hurtful Ex-Husband – There is nothing I can do about this right now.  I just continue to take the high road.

Religious Discomfort – I think I need to recommit to prayer time.  I am doing some meditation and reading spiritual matters, but feel like prayer is lacking.  The discomfort related to my religion of origin may resolve itself someday, but for now, I think I just have to sit with it.

Tight Finances – I am working to try to publish.  I am hoping that will be my ticket to more finances so the tightness will disappear.

Taxes – I have set up a payment plan.  It will take time.

Unkind People Who Purposely Hurt Others – Nothing I can do there, except speak up when I see it happen.

Bedtime Schedules – I don’t think there is a solution to this.  David is a night owl.  I like to go to bed early and rise early whenever I can.  I need to talk to David and try to problem-solve.

Having to work too much – I am going to publish books.  That will be my supplementary income.  Then I can just teach and write.  I won’t need a second job.

Health, Writing

Complaints – (Day 19)

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Today’s assignment is to list complaints/grievances and determine if I can do anything about them.

I found the definition of grievance interesting – a real or imagined cause for complaint.  Some of mine are probably imaginary.

Complaints/Grievances:  pain, excess weight, joint problems, too much housekeeping, David’s dog, low energy, ungrateful children, depression, unpleasant hurtful ex-husband, religious discomfort, tight finances, taxes, unkind people who purposely hurt others, bedtime schedules (mine and David’s don’t match), having to work too much

It is too overwhelming right now to think of any ways that I can do anything about these complaints/grievances.  I’m irritated just listing them.  Perhaps tomorrow I’ll consider ways to fix things, but for now I’ll let them sit right where they are…