Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
It’s happened to you. It’s happened to me. You’ve set a goal in your life:
Reduce debt.
Strive toward health.
Quit (insert bad habit).
Improve your relationship with (your spouse, your child, your parents).
Then, life sets in and you fall oh-so-short of your goal and ambition. You overspend at the store. You overindulge on candy. You start (again). You yell or fall into unhealthy relationship habits.
We feel guilty . . . like we are never going to be able to master ___________. How could we be so stupid? How is it we find ourselves in the midst of the same problems with the same results and little to no hope for future change?
What’s the point? We’re just going to end up back at the same place where we began, maybe with even more sorrows for our troubles. Why even try again?
In fact, since we already blew it anyway, why not go ahead and blow it really *good.* I mean we’ll start again, on Monday. So a new pair of shoes comes along to “improve” upon the blown grocery budget. An ice cream sandwich marches up to accompany the candy. And steely silence partners with the screaming match you had with your child.
All of this makes us get up on Monday morning, set a new goal and repeat the whole pattern all over again.
At its base definition, this is insanity: “Doing the same thing (or worse) and expecting a different outcome.”
Proverbs 26:11 says “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” (NIV) I love the way The Message rephrases it – “As a dog eats its own vomit, so fools recycle silliness.” Both versions are high on the icky factor but the visual metaphor hammers home the point that it’s ridiculous to continue a failed habit. You are simply setting yourself up for failure, time and time again.
If your budget . . . nutrition plan . . . method of cessation . . . relationship strategy didn’t work last time, it’s not going to work again, no matter how hard you try or push to make it “work.”
It’s time for a new plan. Don’t beat yourself up or repeat your crazy. Ask for wisdom, seek counsel, and began again.
Do you struggle with cycle of busting your budget, overindulging, feeling guilty, and starting the crazy all over again? How do you cope?
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
