I’ve felt that the last few days have been harder to meditate. I kept drifting off thinking about the hundreds of things (it’s probably less than “hundreds” but you know what I mean) I have to do. Some days are definitely easier than others, but that’s why it’s called “practice”.

I’m on a long flight later today so I think it’s a great opportunity to practice. I signed up for the free trial of the Calm app, so I have access to their full library now. Practicing meditation has become oddly addicting, especially since it’s basically the act of doing nothing. I think it’s just nice to take a break from scrolling through Instagram, which is one of my biggest distractions.

I’m already trying to get family members to download the app and try it, but it’s not something you can force on people.

In terms of money, it’s hard to even wrap my head around right now. This trip is going to cost a lot, and we’re not in a place to really swing it, but we’re swinging it anyway. When we get back, the budget is changing and getting out of credit card debt is my main focus. I’ve been using Qapital for the last few months which did allow me to save extra money for this trip, but unfortunately not enough. I do highly recommend Qapital though. It allows you to set rules that transfer your money from Checking to Qapital savings, and you can set goals (your own goals or shared goals) too.

I’ll be back at this when I’m back home!

This past month I’ve began meditating using apps like Headspace and Calm. I never thought meditation could work for me- the few times I tried it I felt like it gave me even more anxiety because my mind wouldn’t stop turning. But I’ve done yoga a decent amount over the last year (I mean maybe like 20 times tops) and I felt the positive effects from it, so I figured I’d try meditating. I also realized how crazy busy I am, commuting into the city every day, working 50+ hour weeks, working out, cooking, keeping a house organized, and managing our budget. So I realized I needed some quiet time.
I’m on Day 4 of consistently practicing mindfulness, maybe 10-15 minutes a day. I’ve mostly practiced on the floor or in my bed, but I even tried it on the subway twice this week. I do already feel positive effects from it. I’ve felt a bit more confident, I’ve definitely felt more psychic, and I’ve had a few good ideas (like starting this blog).

My goal for this at least for now is to track my journey and progress with mindfulness, but to also track my progress with money. I have a lot of debt that needs to be paid off, and I’ve barely been getting anywhere with it. I’m getting to a point where something HAS to change. Maybe mindfulness and money are more intertwined than one might think. But I can’t keep ignoring the debt we have as a household, and I can’t let it consume us. I have to start creating a plan to get out of it.

Some observations I have from my meditations so far:

• Sometimes I have intrusive thoughts when I meditate- as if because my eyes are closed, a tarantula might crawl onto my head or a stranger might come in and attack me with a hammer or a car might crash into my living room. I’m hoping these will subside over time. Luckily today I didn’t have these.
• When I feel like I’m doing a good job of focusing, I get REALLY tired like I could just fall asleep.
• I’m not sure how mindfulness is helping yet, but I can just tell that it is.

Right now I’m working on getting through the first 10 days of the Basics section in the Headspace app. After that I’ll sign up for a free trial to unlock the full library.

I’ll focus more on the money piece of this after our trip, but my initial goal is to come to terms with the amount of credit card debt I’m in and work toward making at least $500 payments per month until I can get rid of it. That’s the biggest blocker for me.

I’m not sure what direction I’ll go in with this blog, but I just know I want to start writing about my journey and I’ll see where that takes me.

Thanks!