What is stopping you?

Daily life is very stressful. It is tiring. It is exhausting. It is taking everything you have to not go running into the night, screaming your head off. The only thing that can make it better, perhaps, is the thought that there are so many other people having the same problems as you. Misery loves company, as the saying goes, but in this case, your shared experiences can be a sense of solidarity and a push that you might need ot make it through the day. Someone is going through the same things you are so you kno0w there is someone out there who understands you. Just look at any person trying to make it through the day, and you will know that their stress is so similar to yours that you could be practically living in the same reality. Bills stuff. Kids stuff. Household stuff. Car stuff. School stuff. Traffic stuff. Spouse stuff. Boss stuff. Work stuff. And all that before 9 AM... sheesh... life can be a downright problem magnet! And yet, when you get a moment's time, and try to relax for a moment, what happens? Something else comes up. The dog has a major accident on the new rug you just got. The cat pukes on the couch that you just got professionally cleaned. (Yes, both happened to my family recently - but in all fairness, our dog is very old, and she can be forgiven for not making it outside. The cat... well, my daughter treats the cat like a rag doll sometimes and the poor animal has to express his anger once in a while).

The point it, life is full of daily irritations and because of this, it makes it difficult to focus on things that are important. For example, it is impossible to find the time to sit down with your spouse and take a look at your long term, financial planning because at the end of the day you are just tired beyond belief. Is your life insurance current? Have you looked at your 401(k) recently? How's it going, are you on track for retirement? Do you have the best mortgage rate? Or just forget all that, how is your budget? When was the last time you updated your budget? When was the last time you LOOKED at your budget?

Have you seen your credit card statement recently? It is HARD to focus on those things when you have life stuff to deal with. But... the reality is, if you want life stuff to get easier in the future, you have to be willing to put aside your tiredness and instead of sitting down exhausted in front of the TV and falling asleep, you have to look at your budget for a moment. So in 5 years you don't have to end your day exhausted from life stuff - so maybe in 5 years you can relax a little and say, you know what, I was able to save up for a new car and not have to worry about it stopping on the road with me so one less life stuff to deal with. Maybe taking those 5 minutes on the budget is not such a bad idea, even though you are tired and want to just take a shower and go to bed... sometimes you have to make it a little long day today, so in a few years you have the luxury to say no to life stuff and long days.

In the meantime, for days when you absolutely must take a break from life, here is my recipe for a Rum Runner - it certainly helps sometimes to make the day feel less like life ran over it. Not saying you should drink... but I certainly enjoy one once in a while when I want life to leave me the hell along for a few hours.

1 shot of Spicy Rum - 1 shot of pineapple rum - 1 shot of banana liqueur - 1 shot of pineapple juice - 1 shot of pulp free OJ - shake it all up in metal mixing cup full of ice. Once it is properly mixed, I pour it over cubed ice in a cup and add a shot or two of grenadine and to finish it off, put a straw in it. Then enjoy.

Sometimes my wife and I just say to life, "you are going to have to wait, we are captaining the Rum cruiser to our private island and you, life, are not invited. We'll see you tomorrow."