Friday Five: 29/11/19

In these (irregular) posts, I share five things.

Loves, hates, ideas I’m pondering, places I’m supporting, whatever.

Here we go:

THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS:

Not the Biblical meaning, but more building a Christmas that honours and remembers what it means to me.

I’ve been trying for several years to limit how involved I get in the commercialism for its own sake type of Christmas. Historically, I’ve bought the novelty gifts that are just one more thing to wrap and really bring no value or pleasure to the person I’m giving it to. Now I try to buy gifts that are meaningful, or thoughtful. That may mean I spend more, or perhaps less. Often it means I spend more on one person one year and another person the next, as I see things that I think would really appeal. The idea of spending an exact equal budget on everyone feels a little false, and leads to that need to find one more thing, even if it isn’t a thing they need or want.

THE TERROR OF A BOOK LAUNCH:

Time Management for Writers launches tomorrow (eek) and it has been utterly terrifying sending out review copies and preparing for the world to see this book.

This will be something towards my 20th book launch, although the first under my own name. It’s surprising how scary it is.

Initial feedback is good!

And yet the fear remains…

QUESTION I’M BEING ASKED:

“What do you want for your birthday / Christmas?”

Being a December baby means it all rolls around at once for me, and I find myself being asked to give people gift ideas.

This year I’m in the very fortunate position of being able to say there’s nothing that I really want or need. I’m taking some time to remember how utterly blessed I am to be able to say that.

FAITH OVER FEAR:

I ordered the sweater in the photo from a crowdsourcing website several weeks ago. A teenage girl had designed a range of them and was selling them in order to raise money for college tuition.

I’m in love with this sweater. It’s so warm and soft.

I do know that Faith over Fear is a Christian message, but that’s not how I read it. When I look at it, it’s a reminder to me to have faith in myself. Faith in my abilities. Faith in my moral compass. Faith over fear.

PODCAST I’M LISTENING TO:

I’m really enjoying Choose FI, a financial independence podcast.

The FIRE movement focuses on Financial Independence Retire Early, but Choose FI doesn’t focus on the retiring part of that plan. It resonates with me because as much as I want financial independence, it isn’t so that I can retire early. I don’t see that I’d ever want to stop working on meaningful pursuits.

Listening to the show helps me stay intentional about my spending.

That’s all for now.