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Forty Lessons I’ve Learned in 40 Years

Sincerely Angie2 Comments

With age comes wisdom and no truer words were ever spoken. It’s been said that age is a construct and it’s just a number and I agree that it’s just a number. I don’t feel a day over 25. I feel like I look 25. My mindset is old enough to grant me wisdom and young enough to keep up with the times. I often sing Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s Forever Young when I think of age. You’re only as old as you feel. I know 75+ year olds that move around better than 30 year olds and I know 30 year olds that look and act like 60 year olds. You’re only as old or young as you feel!

Over the last few years, I have been focusing on self love, self awareness, peace, stepping out of my comfort zone, trying new things and letting go. In all of that, I’m learning a lot. A lot about myself, life, people, what’s important and what’s not important. Enough of the small talk, let’s get to the lessons.

Most of the things that I have learned has definitely been cliché but as you get older, you understand and respect the clichés. Mainly, because they’re true.

  1. Seek God. He never leaves us, we stray away from Him. When you seek Him out, He will speak to you.
  2. People are exactly who they say they are. They will also show you who they are. Believe them the first time.
  3. Make the days count, don’t count the days.
  4. If you really want to, you will. If they really want to, they will.
  5. Give freely way more than you receive and you will receive more than you give.
  6. Money isn’t everything but when you don’t have a lot of it, money is everything.
  7. Your reputation does precede you. Someone is always watching, even if you don’t notice them.
  8. When you love yourself, it shows in what you do and what you allow.
  9. Credit score can determine if you get the life that you want or the life that is given to you.
  10. Being tight fisted or close handed doesn’t give you room to receive.
  11. Happiness is truly an inside job.
  12. Peace is attainable. Life is for the living.
  13. The best place to start is small. Small steps lead to bigger ones.
  14. There is beauty in everything and a lesson in everything.
  15. Trusting God is the hardest easiest work you’ll ever do.
  16. Just do it. Whatever you want to do, do it! Anything is possible.
  17. Rest/naps are blessings to your mind, body and spirit.
  18. No matter what you do, it’ll never be good enough for someone. You can’t please everyone.
  19. If you always do what you want to do in/at the moment and what feels right to you, you’ll never have regrets.
  20. Trust your gut, intuition, mind and heart. At least one of them has never led you astray.
  21. Everyone is dealing with something. It’s not always personal.
  22. You have the power to change your life with your thoughts, words and abilities.
  23. How you view you is not how everyone else views you.
  24. Feelings aren’t facts but feelings are valid.
  25. It all works out at some point. Everything is connected. It all lines up in the end.
  26. We never give ourselves enough credit. You’re actually better at something than you think.
  27. Everyone isn’t a hater, jealous or envious. Their admiration is just misplaced.
  28. Let it go. Majority of the time, it’s not worth the time you spent worrying about it or holding on to it.
  29. Some people will hurt you and not think twice about it. Heal and appreciate the lesson learned.
  30. Accept and respect people for who they are and give them grace for who they are not.
  31. Take pictures to remember the moment but don’t forget to live in the moment and take it all in.
  32. Traveling exposes you to a whole new world, literally!
  33. Save your money now so that later, your money can save you.
  34. You are born with relatives, and you can choose your family.
  35. Remain solid even when everyone around you may be fickle.
  36. Think before you speak so that you can say what you mean and mean what you say.
  37. Take care of you, your body and things and they will take care of you.
  38. Perspective is the key to a positive life.
  39. Trusting God, being obedient and tithing are the cheat codes to a beautiful life.
  40. Life is everything that you make it. Make it beautiful. You’re in charge of it.

There are many more lessons but these, I feel, are the best for this time in my life.

Here’s what I got for my birthday! Thank you to everyone who blessed me with something.

Sincerely,

Angie

NBA Angie (Never Broke Again Angie)

Sincerely Angie2 Comments

Vow to Never be Broke Again

Do you have a “broke” number? If you’re not familiar with what a broke number is, it’s basically a number that you get down to in your finances, where you start to consider yourself broke. It’s a number that should scare you. I also talk about this in a recent podcast episode here.

I found out in 2014 that my broke number was $10,000. In 2011, I left a job that I had been on for 7 years and started a new one 4 months later in 2012. During the 4 months I wasn’t working, I was living off of my savings. The new job paid me significantly less than my previous job, so I was still using my savings to supplement the deficit. After 2 years of living off of my savings, I was approaching a number in my savings account that scared the ish out of me. Before reaching that number, I knew that’s where I was stopping. Because as I was approaching it, I would get nervous thinking about it. That’s when I started to make changes. I downsized as much as possible and I was able to maintain my broke number without touching the savings account for a few years.

Slowly but surely and in very small steps, I started to add money to increase my savings. You can see the growth in my blog posts in the budget tab. I went from saving $2, $5, $15+ dollars at a time, to saving $200, $500, $1,500+ at a time. I went from praying to be able to save $10,000 to saving $10,000 in almost two years, then to saving that in less than one year.

Vowing to never get that close to only having $10,000 in my savings, to being able to save $10,000 in less than a year, only came from the feeling of not having that security. I learned a few things during a span of 5 years that helped me to grow. Since then, my “broke” number has changed and that change came in 2018. That means it took me about 7 years or more to learn my finances, grow my finances and to get comfortable with a much larger “broke number”.

Here’s what I did:

  • I started paying the full 10% of my tithes.
  • I wrote down everything and really learned who I was financially.
  • I elevated each time I reached a goal.
  • I took a deep dive into my finances and learned them inside out.
  • I set many goals, big and small.
  • I pushed myself and always strived for a bigger goal.
  • I sacrificed and had to practice discipline.
  • I took advantage of any thing free, points and programs that rewarded me with free money. (Rakuten, surveys, loyalty programs, receipt programs, etc.)
  • I counted every penny and knew where every penny was supposed to be.

If you’re reading this, it’s my hope that this post inspires change if you need it or motivation. This post is not to brag or boast. We all have a journey, and it took me nearly 10 years to get to this place. I vowed to never get close to my broke number again, and if life did happen and I got close to it, I know exactly how to recover it all again. NBA Angie!!! Happy budgeting!

Sincerely,

Angie

Just Because You Never…

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Just because you never experienced something, doesn’t mean you can’t start today or that it’s okay to remain in “neverland.” Never, is a crutch that I don’t think we talk about enough. The word “never” can also keep us in bondage because “never” is such an absolute word. “I will never…” How do you know that life won’t force you to do what you never thought you would? I digress. I will speak on that side of never after I return from a solo trip I “never” thought about.

I talk often on many podcasts episodes and blog posts about my childhood and how I never grew up with love. But that never stopped me from wanting, showing and being the love that I wish I had as a child. In case you didn’t catch that, what I’m saying is, just because I never experienced it, doesn’t mean I can’t make a conscious decision to change that for my present and future. Ask my ex bf from when I was 19 years old. He will tell you how I operated in love at 19 without even really knowing what love was.

We are not all the same and we don’t get there at the same time but you shouldn’t be 40 still blaming your childhood on something you could have changed when you learned better or if you really wanted to.

On the job I’ve heard people say, “I was never taught that.” For me, I am a quick learner and I am inquisitive. If I see or hear of something I wasn’t aware of, I ask questions and research to learn more about it. Just because you weren’t taught it, doesn’t mean you can’t learn it when you hear about it.

Jesus, Google, Siri, Cortana and Alexa, are all available 24/7. They don’t have off days. They are just one short call away. Utilize that.

Years ago an old friend of mine said that he wasn’t romantic because growing up he never saw romance in front of him. I was flabbergasted because in my mind I’m thinking, haven’t you watched TV, movies and/or heard R&B music??? Romance is everywhere. Just pay attention, try and apply what you see or hear and see what sticks. It’s a choice to remain where you are because the crutch is so much better than the discomfort of trying something new or different.

I’m not perfect nor am I striving for perfection. I just want us to be more self-aware of excuses and crutches that hinder us from growth and a victim mindset. We can all point out areas where we didn’t know something and willingly pursued it. We just have to be more adamant about being that way in other areas of our lives and setting fear to the side.

Sincerely,

Angie