It's really all one problem

Over on the YNAB Facebook page, someone made a post about something, but one line struck me hard. "What if you budgeted your time like you budget your money?"  Whoa!!! I kind of knew this because I am a planner junkie, but having someone else say it just really hit me. We only have a finite number of hours in a day, like we have a finite number of dollars. Using them wisely and making them work for you is super important. I think it's time to start thinking like this all the time about everything.

On another topic, it came to me this morning that I don't know how to handle money because I was never taught. My parents lived paycheck to paycheck. I saw that and that's what I learned. I'm not faulting them, they did the best they could with what they had, but I can only learn what I see and that's what I learned. By watching them I learned that payday was an event. We would cash checks, go shopping, have a big meal, maybe even buy a treat. So payday took on this huge significance that it really shouldn't have. It should be just another day. If you are handling your money right, payday is just another day and not any real special event.

Which leads me to food. I had to learn that certain foods did not have any special, magical powers. Cake or cookies did not hold the key to my happiness. Eating them did not transform my life into something special. I have been working extremely hard to change the way I think about certain foods. Cookies cannot cure all my problems. Nor are they special enough to be eaten when I'm feeling happy. Or sad. Or angry. Or melancholy. Or depressed. Or ecstatic. Or any other feeling. Food should not be related to feelings at all. It's just food. It just nourishes your body. That's it.

So I believe that all of these seemingly diverse topics, boil down to one problem. How I look at things. I look at time as not having enough and that I will feel a lot better if I waste some. Stupid. I look at money as something that can't just sit but will make me feel better if I spend it. Stupid. I look at food as something that will make me feel better to eat. Stupid. I need to change the way I view things. Meditation is helping me see that many things go on in my mind and have nothing to do with reality. Time to start looking at these things as things that can work for me and not necessarily make me happy. Time for a change in my thought process.