Archive notice: This is a historical post from Mary’s years of blogging. Some older posts may mention products, courses or shop items that are no longer available, as Mary now focuses her time and energy on supporting widows inside her private Facebook community. The guidance and stories remain here as a free resource for widows.
For current ways to connect with Mary’s work, you can:
I recommend the book “The Wealthy Barber Returns” by David Chilton. It’s all a reach for me, but this book made sense and had me laughing as I read it. I love this quote from the book “Recognize that charge cards are the great enabler of our addiction to spending and don’t always carry one with you.” What – it’s that easy! Just leave the cards at home, I love it.
Starting a new year with fresh goals and plans - it used to sound good to me. But with the death of my husband and the passing of the years I’ve come to notice that my goals are strangely the same year after year:
- Lose weight.
- Manage my money better.
- Start exercising.
- Live a more balanced life.
- Learn a new skill – I always wanted to play a guitar!!
So this year my ONE goal is to simply educate myself so that I can actually go after what I want. To this end, I’m starting out with some great resources but surprisingly I’m not starting with weight loss (but believe me I could) but instead I’m starting with money smarts. Nothing can cut your standard of living faster than losing your spouse and nothing is more stressful than trying to pay the same bills with half the money.
Every after tax dollar is worthy of respect but I personally learned that late in life. My uncle told be thirty years ago that “it doesn’t matter how much you bring in the door if you throw it out the window”. I wished I had listened to him but I was young and always in need of the next “I can’t do without” item. I am teachable and so I’m passing on what I’ve found so that you will be ahead of me by thirty yearsJ
What makes advice good for one person and yet bad for another? Is it the advice, the person giving it, the person receiving it or just the timing?
We all receive advice and give advice (wanted or not) and it’s all around us as we start a new year. My advice is not about budgets, goal setting or losing weight but instead it’s about what you really need to hear.
- Be teachable and never stop learning.
- Live life with the unlimited vision of a child who thinks everything is possible.
- What you achieve in life is directly related to how much goodness you bring in.
- Commit to paying attention to your relationships or you will lose them.
- Live by your sense of integrity and your word will have value.
Maybe right now you can’t see how to overcome an obstacle, accomplish your dreams or move through your grief. But today you can take steps of faith to pursue new opportunities, to explore new hobbies, break bad habits and focus on a positive mindset.
It’s not too late to accomplish a life that has everything you desire. You have been through grief and disappointments, and things are not the way you’d planned. I know it’s hard but you need to move forward in a positive way.
I wish you a year of learning – learning about money, life balance, health and happiness, but mostly just learning about who you are as a person and loving yourself just as you are.
To Our Shared Journey,
Mary Francis is a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist® ,
Certified Law of Attraction Facilitator, Early Intervention Field Traumatologist (EIFT), and the Author/Founder of "The Sisterhood of Widows"
