Overall it's been a week full of ups and downs. I've broken a lot of commitments and wasted a lot of time. Haven't slept when I'm supposed to. Haven't practiced the piano like I'm supposed to. Haven't really done anything *when* I was supposed to do it outside of scheduled classes. Until Friday my schedule was been in shambles. Still working on the weekends.
Let's back up and talk about what this challenge is for a moment so that the reader actually knows what I'm doing.
The 60 day challenge is a challenge I created for myself to help me live a happier and more fulfilling life. Here are the things it entails:
- Going to bed at 9:00 pm and waking up at 5:00 am every day, including Sundays.
This is really important. I need to get consistent sleep if I want to be productive, efficient, and focused. And happy. :D - Beginning and finishing every day with quality prayer, meditation, and scripture study. This is the balm for my soul to begin and end every day with. This challenge is hard, and that's all there is to it. I don't have a lot of time to talk with and be with friends, and that is really difficult for me. I am fueled by connection. To miss out on it is painful for me. My friends are so important.
- Doing family history every day, at very least a few minutes worth. I have about 20 minutes scheduled.
I have a calling in the church as Family History Consultant, and one of the promised blessings of fulfilling that calling is that I will find time for all the other things I want to do in life. That was promised to me, and I'm sticking God to it. - Scheduling my life so that I don't have to waste time thinking about what I need to do next, including a overview and review at the beginning and end of each day to assess my progress. This means using a daily planner. In my case, the SAR.
This is helpful because I am apt to misuse a lot of time thinking and not doing. It's in my nature. I love to think. I will think for hours and hours about things that are interesting to me and not even bat an eye. Life is fascinating. I just have got to keep my eye on the things that will make me feel fulfilled in the future.
Why am I doing this?
Primarily because I want to live a happy and fulfilling life. One of the important qualities of such a life is being debt free. If I can keep good grades and all my commitments on this challenge, I should be able to put myself through 4 years of college for free, which means no student loans. That's huge. Debate me as you will, but I strongly believe that he who owes money to another man is a slave to his creditor, and I am not willing to be a slave. I pray that the Lord will guide me in wise paths that I may never be in debt. It is not worth my freedom.
One of the important reasons I wish to remain free from debt is that I do not want to grow up and be in debt and have to choose the bank over my family. Is this easy? No. It probably means that for a lot of my young married life my wife and I will live rather meagerly. I'm okay with that, and I pray that she will be too. It pays off. Debt is such a strain on marriage. I think that it's probably just as much a strain as a child asking why we're having beans and rice again and saying that they don't want it, or feeling like a poor husband because I can't take my wife out to dinner or I'll break the budget, but I've never been there, so it's hard for me to say.
Also, this is my senior year of wrestling. I want it to be meaningful. I want to walk sincerely out with no regrets. None in school, none in wrestling, none in faith, none in family. I know I can and will walk out of this year having given an incredible amount to the sport of wrestling. The question is, can I walk out happy with my efforts? Can I have a clean conscience and a clear mind? I will choose to be happy come what may, but I don't want to have to come to terms with my shortcomings first.
There is more to say, but I've got to go get ready for bed. I'm going to do better at posting every day this week.
Here we go!
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