Image by Jason Cline, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:
1. One of the major focuses in life right now is paying off all of my debts. So far, my girlfriend and I have saved up an emergency fund, paid off our credit cards and automobile, and all we have left is to pay off our student loans. Seeing the financial progress over the past several years has been very gratifying to me. I especially enjoyed this article describing Anthony Bourdain's financial freedom journey. He spent the majority of his life not paying attention to his finances—never having a savings account, ignoring AmEx and failing to file his taxes to the IRS. Bourdain turned everything around and is now in a much better position financially. Stories like these help keep me motivated, so I wanted to share them with the Think Wilder audience. If you're currently in debt, I'd consider checking out Dave Ramsey's advice.
2. This article concerning 10 "spiritual" things people do that are total bullshit was full of some great reminders for me as I continue navigating my own spiritual path. I remember a period in my life where I was considering using my "spirituality" as an excuse to not pay down my debts, which is listed as #2 in the article. I know that I've fallen prey (and been on the receiving end) of #4: "Judging others for expressing anger or other strong emotions, even when it's necessary to do so." I find that one to be tied to #6: "[Overemphasizing] 'positivity' in order to avoid looking at the problems in their lives and in the world." While the article gets somewhat repetitive, I did find it to be a good "check your spirituality" exercise, and would advise others to take a look!
That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.