How I Learned to Declutter My Mind – Guest Post on Becoming Minimalist

February 24, 2020 By Deanna Leave a Comment

Last week I was able to publish a guest post on the website Becoming Minimalist by Joshua Becker. If you haven’t checked him out yet, I highly recommend you do. As I’ve been devouring his YouTube videos, I’ve been inspired to embrace more minimalism.

I just moved into a new apartment and while I don’t own a lot of stuff anyway, I’m reducing my wardrobe to more of a minimalist one (future post).

Anyway, my guest post for Becoming Minimalist is about how I learned to declutter my mind. You can start to read it here and will be directed over to Becoming Minimalist to complete it.

How I Learned to Declutter My Mind

For most of my life, my headspace has been filled with negative self-talk and lies. The tapes that would play over and over in my head went something like this:

You’ll never be good enough.
Why can’t you be perfect?
You are going to mess things up.
You are worthless and unworthy.
When will you grow up and learn?
No one likes you.
He thinks you’re stupid.

It was a heavy burden to carry. Worse yet, I could go on and on.

Growing up, my emotional security was scarce and my self-hatred was plentiful.

As I write these words, I realize how blessed I am that I almost don’t recognize that girl anymore. The road I’ve taken to trade in that garment of heaviness for one of joy and praise has been the most important journey of my life.

First Things First

As the brain fog of addiction started to lift in early sobriety, I made a vow to unearth the roots of what led me here.

How did I end up to be a full-blown addict in my 30’s? Why did I allow myself to be treated so harshly by men? And where did that little girl go who had a big ‘ol bucket full of dreams? I didn’t know, but I would do whatever it took to find out.

Unfortunately, one is not typically willing to embark on such a soul-searching journey unless there has been deep pain. My bottom was a very dark and lonely place. At the end of my rope I had a vision and was faced with the stark reality that my choices were:

Insanity
Death
Surrender

I clung to the only possible hope I had and fell to my knees.

Early sobriety was challenging and full of confusion and depression. Fortunately, I put myself in places to learn that it could also be full of hope.

As I heard story after story of people who found joy in recovery, I started to believe it could be true for me as well.

How I Managed to Repay My Credit Card Debt

February 10, 2020 By Deanna 1 Comment

I’m thrilled to bring you another inspiring and practical story in my interview series, Inspiring Women in Recovery. This is a story of recovery from credit card debt which is probably something many people can relate to. It is something I also had to overcome once I began to work on my finances in sobriety.

Today’s story comes from a lady I’ve met in the personal finance world. Additionally, she has written a few guest posts for me previously. She goes by the name Good Nelly in the personal finance world.

I hope you enjoy and glean some practical advice from Good Nelly’s personal story of recovery from credit card debt…

Experiencing the Mental Wealth of 10 Years of Sobriety

February 3, 2020 By Deanna 14 Comments

On February 1^st, 2020 I celebrated 10 years of uninterrupted sobriety. Woohoo!!! Some days that dark time in my life feels like a lifetime ago and other days it feels like yesterday.

It’s hard to believe 10 years have gone by since I surrendered completely and gave up something which had become a crutch in my life. Addiction of any kind is not really about the addiction. Sure, there is a physical reaction that occurs in a person who is addicted.

However, in my personal experience of getting sober and helping dozens of women through the years, there are always deeper-rooted issues at play. The substance (pick your poison) is just a cover-up, an escape.

Remove the crutch and you either find something else to replace it or you’ll learn to face the music deal with your junk.

I choose the latter every time and that is my hope for all of you. When we deal with our stuff, our histories and hurts, we open the doors to a whole slew of mental wealth.

While this is mostly a personal finance blog, it’s also about the mental wellness of true recovery. Afterall wealth is not just about our pocketbooks. 😉

Lifehacks to Make Your Life Easier & Save You Money

January 27, 2020 By Deanna 3 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of killing two birds with one stone. You know, like riding a bike to run an errand thereby getting a task done and getting fit.

So when I first heard the term lifehack, I was already a fan.

Let’s start by defining what a lifehack it.

Lifehack (noun):

a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way.

I’ll argue, and share some ways, that lifehacks can also save you money. So without further ado, let’s get started…