As many of you have probably noticed, I have not released a new article in almost a month now. This wasn’t a planned event but it was something that has happened naturally. Over the past two years this blog has taken much of my mental energy and time on top of a full work week as I have tried to release a new article every week.
I tell you this not to make an excuse, as this whole process is something I wouldn’t have changed for anything, but to simply show the effort that I have put into something that I am very passionate about. I finally understood the concept of once you find something you love, it won’t feel like work.
This blog has helped hundreds of travelers get started on their own journey, and thousands of others get started investing and striving for financial independence/retirement. It’s these stories I have now that make all of this so worth it.
Yes, the blog does generate a little bit of income but at this point it merely pays for the website costs. The real reason I run this blog is for the stories and the people who reach out directly with questions or for specific help. That’s why this blog exists.
It started out as an outlet for myself while I was going through some dark times in my life and it has ended up being something that I am proud of and something that I can use to help others.
That being said, it was still time to take a step back, recollect my mental thoughts and see how this blog ran on it’s own.
And as it turned out, the blog ran just fine without my constant contributions. It had similar numbers of page views and people reaching out.
This isn’t to say that I will be stopping my contributions to the blog but it was nice to know that it has been built up to something that can run without my constant direction. This may allow me to take some more weeks off in the future and not stress out about it nearly as much as I did this time around.
This is very similar to our finances/retirement. We all start out investing or saving for retirement at some point in our lives. It’s something that we can focus on, stress out about, and spend a lot of our time worrying over. However, in most cases, this level of focus won’t change the needle on how quickly we reach retirement once we learn and set the foundation.
If we do continue day in and day out with that level of focus and stress, it can often lead to fatigue and burnout. And that is the true threat to reaching our retirement goals.
So today’s lesson is simple: It’s okay to take a step back from anything in life, even if that anything is something you love. It will still be there when you return and oftentimes you will return with a renewed passion.
So let’s get back at it! Feel free to share this blog to anyone you think may benefit from some small financial advice and changes or reach out if you have any specific questions yourself.
