I cannot believe we are actually at the end of the year, can you? Quick question for you:
If I said to you: “Let’s take a trip to France for two months and leave next week!” Could you do it? Would you be able to find time in your schedule to take two months off?
Most of you would say no for two reasons:
1 You don’t have enough time to take two months off for a vacation – especially if you are an entrepreneur. You might be thinking “Julie! There is no way I could take two months off! I would lose so much money and I could NEVER leave my clients alone for that long!”
2 You would love to take the time off, but you don’t have the money to do so. Two months is a long time after all, and you would need to have saved a certain amount for the flight, food, and accommodations.
Over the last few months, I have been talking about the concept of currency in our lives and how we relate to it with regard to what you hold valuable. The old paradigm of working 50 weeks per year and having a measly 2 weeks off for vacation is not working for most of us.
If you are an entrepreneur this may not apply as you could easily be working many more hours than 40 a week, but if you work in a corporate job this is still the norm. I found the concept of currency in an article by Tim Denning and it got me thinking about what I value in my life. Check out the article here: Happiness Is the New Rich. Inner Peace Is the New Success. | Tim Denning | NewsBreak Original
For me, the highest form of currency has always been personal freedom. The idea is that money is NOT the thing we value most, it’s what the money does FOR us! Money gives us freedom and experiences and that is usually what we value more than anything else.
For example, seven years ago my father set up a trip a family trip to visit Italy. He was having difficulty walking and knew this would be the best and last time he could make this type of a trip due to his physical ailments. It turned out to be an epic magical visit I will never forget simply because we were all together and saw some wonderful things.
Another amazing experience I had was swimming with the dolphins! It had been on my bucket list for years. I can’t remember how much it cost because the money was irrelevant with no comparison to the experience.
WHAT IS YOUR HAPPINESS CURRENCY?
Is it the “freedom” to do whatever you want when you want?
Is it “happiness” in your ability to take care of your family and create experiences that are magical?
Or is it the “flexibility” to do whatever needs to be done for yourself or family as their needs come up?
HOW CAN YOU SET YOURSELF UP FOR MORE HAPPINESS?
To have the life you want lies in you purposefully setting yourself up for what you desire the most starting now.
If you are an entrepreneur, you decide what your days looks like. You have the power to set your own schedule and work or take breaks as you see fit. Being an entrepreneur myself, I can tell you there are days where my workload is light, and I can take time off to do what I want to do. Yet there are many times where I work late into the night (think 2:00 or 3:00 am) finishing up videos or writing blog posts when others are sleeping.
If you are working in the corporate arena, you may have money but not the time you desire. One option might be to start a side hustle to bank extra money with a plan of getting out of the corporate rat race.
If you want to set up a lifestyle with more freedom, take out a paper and pen and figure out how much money you need to support what you want to accomplish – a trip or time off.
If you are an entrepreneur, work backwards by writing down how many clients or events you would need to make the funds available. If you are at a corporate company, find out if you are eligible for future bonuses or what type of side hustle you could start to execute your plan.
Start to save money where you can by getting rid of extras you don’t need. You might be surprised at how much you are spending on extra items that are costly, yet they are just that – extras.
Recognizing what makes you happy is a personal decision and one that should not be encroached upon by others. You should feel completely free to decide what makes you happy, even if and especially if that happiness currency does not fit into the mode that everyone around you thinks is the bees’ knees.
This type of introspection will be the best time you have ever spent as it is for and by yourself and no one knows you better than you.
Back to the original question “Where would you like to go for two months, and can we leave next week?” I’m hoping the answer would be Italy and HELL YES!!!
You only have one life to live, don’t live it for anybody else except you.
Wishing you all Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Julie