a quick change a longtime coming
That’s my favorite picture of Summer 2023. My nephews and their cousin on our way to eventual Space Mountain-riding at Disney World. We had just piled out of the minivan to get the epic day going (5 adults + 3 kids), and the cuties were practicing being tall enough to be let on the ride. : ) I love the hope and the joy-as-birthright bursting out of this picture.
I’m hoping your summer is as fun as Space Mountain…
that you walk as many steps as your body and mind crave…
that you get the combo of cooling/warming that makes everything move well…
that you take healthy chances in speaking your truth…
that you P L A Y at all ages…
that you surprise yourself and someone else with kindness, compassion, appreciation, presence, generosity, reliability, radical Love…
and that your relationship with money is aligned with clarity and gratitude.
In Space Mountain’s Name We Pray~
Now, a pleasant surprise from my corner of the money world that I want to share with you. This has been so eye-opening for me. As the subject line hints at, the change was so quick to arrive after taking such a lot of work and time to get to.
As part of my work in the 12-step program Debtors’ Anonymous (https://debtorsanonymous.org/), I’ve recently clarified my top 10 values. A working list, shifting and open to edits of course. But I love this start. As of now my top 10 values are
Joy, Clarity, Connection, Grace, Growth, Health, Vitality, Flow, Humor, Freedom.
(They are not ordered in any particular way of which I am aware.)
The follow-up to establishing this list was to map to my spending plan categories how the values get expressed. I got stumped when I came to “Restaurants”. I realized that it’s not enough information if its a restaurant or not, to let me know if the spend nourishes my values. The quick change a long time coming was to separate in my spending plan, restaurants where I had veggies with the meal and restaurants where I did not have veggies with the meal. #mindblown
This exercise helped me understand having so many mixed feelings over the years about my amount of restaurant spend. Yes, sometimes I eat out and it’s lazy. Yes, sometimes I eat out and it’s beautiful self-care. Yes, sometimes I eat out and its trashy and I don’t want to tell anyone about it. Yes, sometimes I eat out and it’s bolstering the local economy in ways I feel ecstatic about. On and on. So the vegetable delineation is partially arbitrary, but as far as I can tell that is the quickest way to predict how the choice will resonate with me after the spend happens.
A micro change to describe the difference in types of restaurants, but I already feel a profound change in thought and behavior. It’s so hard to describe this stuff sometimes but thanks for caring enough to be signed up for this newsletter! Hearing back from youzguyz is always delightful. Would love to hear how it is going for you with money, love, purpose, etc etc.
Love,
Beth Crittenden
aka Critter (on the tennis court)
PS I am overjoyed that Alcaraz won Wimbledon. I am in deep grief that Ons Jabeur lost in the final but very cool run to get there. I feel very nervous for the US Women in the World Cup even though I know too little so far. Congratulations to Naomi Osaka and Cordae having their little baby girl! And the day before the ladies’ Wimbledon final, so epic!
