My catalyst and saying No

Sitting here drinking coffee, half listening to the Today show in the background, Matt Lauer talking about Barbie turning 50 today. I'm thinking back to what made me want to blog to begin with. There's always a catalyst to get the ball rolling and I've kind of touched upon that topic last Monday.

I would say it's an accumulation of many things but it boils down to two.

Life experience - sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to be motivated to make changes and take action. You really have to be resilient during tough times. It helps when you have people you can count on. I was fortunate enough to have the small support system to keep me going during my financial hardship.

Bloggers / Blogs - I have been inspired by reading others' experiences through their blogs. I have a handful in my RSS reader and I'm discovering more. A group of personal finance, simplicity, lifestyle design, location independent bloggers have sparked my interest and many others I'm sure. It's definitely helped me and continues to do so. So thanks to all of you out there especially my favorite blogs - get rich slowly, zen habits, and 4 hour work week.

Recommended reading:
4 Hour Work Week
The Power of Less

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It just felt like I had to write about the paragraph above to get it off my chest. I feel better.

Now on to my original post.

It's ok to say No. Really, it is.

Work life sometimes has a tendency to take over our personal lives. It's inevitable. We tend to allow it to occupy our sacred personal space due to feelings of obligation and guilt. I know I used to. We talk ourselves into it.

A true story: You're off for a few days trying to recover from the hectic workweek, catching up on reading, watching movies in your Netflix queue and and you get several voice mail messages asking if you can come in to cover for someone. Yep, that's what happened last week. I swear I think I received an average of 3 phone calls per day for the 4 days I was off.

I work long hours per day that I am in the office and I'm down to working 3 days sometimes 4 days. This is an ideal setup since it saves me money on fuel. Not that I don't want extra hours but in the greater scheme of things it just wasn't worth it.

I thought about it for a second but decided against it. Instead of putting in more hours:

I was home just enjoying being in the same space as my spouse and pets. I worked on my honey-do list of home maintenance/improvement projects (still quite a long list but getting there). I lounged around on the couch and read my Neil Gaiman book. I made a home-cooked meal for us. I watched a bunch of movies. I worked on this blog among other things. I sat out on the porch, had a cup of coffee, listened to the wind chimes and daydreamed.

It was perfect.