Books

I had not gone on vacation for over 8.5 years where I was not connected to work in some way. Since I was no longer working over this past Christmas holiday, I had the opportunity to disconnect for the first time. I did not get on the Internet, Facebook, etc., and only used my phone to connect with family that I was away from on the holiday. At one point my father-in-law asked me if I had come up with any brilliant ideas or brainstorms for my future, and my response was: “No. My thoughts are absolute mush, and I’m in lala land, and I love it.”

If there is a book to read in 2012 it is: “The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (and a Mother Who Slept with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale” by Susan Maushart. She lives in Australia with her three teenagers, and decides to go for an entire year without technology in their house. If you are like Susan and go to the bathroom with your iPhone and/or sleep with your iPhone, then this book might be for you. For this family, the only way they can be connected to the Internet (for homework or her work) is to go somewhere else, such as the library or a friend’s house. The transformation of her kids and their family life is inspiring to watch. I would like to know how they are coping once they got back into life with technology. Did what they learned and experienced that year stay with them, or did they go back to sleeping with their iPhone(s)?

We all need to disconnect more from our phones, email, Facebook, Twitter, TVs computers, and video games. As Susan shares in her book, doing so means we will experience more of our real lives, connecting with our loved ones, playing more games, musical instruments, cooking, and enjoying life more fully each day. I encourage you to take the time to read Susan’s book. It will inspire you to see how technology might be impacting your life.

If you are not able to disconnect so easily because of your Jetson crazy life, then try going a day a week where you are technology free.

Beautiful sunset while in la la land...

“Money does not grow on trees.” I remember this idea was said to me often growing up. My parents struggled with money. Often my siblings and I never knew if we were going to have money for food, if the electricity was going to be turned off, or if bill collectors would ever stop calling.

Later in high school I lived with my grandma. She lived during the depression and in many ways continued to live ‘depression era’ tendencies throughout the rest of her life. Since I spent so much time with her during what might be called my “cumulative” years, I took on many of these tendencies. Unknowingly I began to write my money story that ensured I would never live the way I did growing up, and my story included many of my grandma’s depression ideals. My money choices are not bad, they are just more Scrooge-like, and some of my ways could be seen as being savvy like some of the ideas listed here. Now that I am on my own, happily married, and in a place that many would call secure, I continue to live in a depression mentality. My outlook seeks security. Since I never had the security growing up to know that we would have what we need, I’ve overcompensated by trying to save and save. At times at the expense of saying no to what could have been rewarding and adventurous experiences.

In my quest to change this mentality, I came across the book: The Secret Language of Money, by David Krueger, M.D. At first I thought this would be a drab read, more textbook style, but after really diving in, it is actually a practical read with helpful explanations of how we can at any moment change our money story. He gives thorough details for the the many ways we behave irrationally about money, and how to rewrite and recreate a new story. Here are a few questions from his book that I found really helpful to ponder in light of rewriting my money story:

What childhood experience, attitudes, and ideas about money can you remember?
When you were growing up, what ideas and attitudes were you presented with regarding money, its use, and its importance?
How did your parents feel about and behave with money?
What did your parents tell you about money?
Was this consistent with how you saw them behave about money?

I encourage you to read this book and take some time to see if you are living a money story that no longer serves you.