Getting out of debt is all about changing habits. You change your spending habits, you change your saving habits. You scrimp, you save, you do lots of things that previously you might not have thought possible. I know I did. I never thought I would be able to house sit a 400 square foot house for over a year in the name of savings. I couldn’t fathom that in a few months time I would be gleefully putting my entire tax return towards my debt with no regrets whatsoever.
Sometimes though, it’s hard to change. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to change certain aspects of your personality. I call these traits inescapable truths.
Now, I’m not trying to excuse bad behaviour. Not getting your spending under control because you “just can’t” isn’t an inescapable truth. That’s just laziness. No, these traits are innate aspects of your personality that you shouldn’t fight to change, because they are just part of who you are. I’ve been coming up against a few inescapable truths myself recently, and they are driving me crazy.
My Early Morning Exercise Routine (or lack thereof)
In my ideal life, I would relish the idea of getting up early in the morning to go for a run. Early morning is the perfect time to run in the heat of the summer. It’s cool and quiet, there’s a refreshing layer of dew on everything, and the pavement isn’t searing hot from a day spent baking in the sun. Unfortunately I’m not a morning exerciser. I’m just not. I would like to be, but every night that I gamely set my alarm for 6am and lay out my running clothes at the foot of my bed, I find myself groggily hitting snooze the next morning. Every. Single. Time.
Right now, in my alternate life, morning runs are not part of my life. I would like them to be, I love the idea of being a morning exerciser, but alas, it’s just not who I am. Perhaps some day in the future, perhaps after I have kids, when 6am is the only time I get to myself, I’ll think differently, but that day is not today. Today, I’m firmly in the snooze camp.
It’s Ok to Embrace Who You Are
I hate this fact about my personality. But that’s just the way I am. I’ve learned to let it go and focus on finding cooler afternoon hours to exercise. By working with my personality instead of against it, I’m a lot happier, and I still get the same result, which is a healthy body and a tired dog.
I also have another inescapable truth, and that is my new obsession with saving. Recently, I blogged about relaxing my saving regime a bit because I’d reached my goal of fully funding my emergency fund. While these last few months of excess cash have been enjoyable, they’ve also left me feeling hollow and anxious inside. I don’t like seeing money slip through my fingers like that, and I would much rather tuck it away safely in a savings account. I enjoy watching my savings grow, more than I enjoy seeing money fly out of my bank account for this event or that party.
This is part of who I am, and I’m ok with that. I’m going to be frugal forever, and I’m going to save aggressively forever. After this summer, when the camping trips and the road trips and the cottage weekends are over, I’ll be returning to my slightly tighter, more saving intensive budget.
What are some of your inescapable truths that, try as you might, you just can’t change? I want to know!