3658: Pressing Restart by Danae Smith of This Wondrous Life on Fresh Starts

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[00:00:58] GoTo.amex.com. This is Optimal Finance Daily, Pressing Restart by Danae Smith of ThisWondrousLife.com, and I'm Justin Malek. Welcome back to our Sunday bonus episode, where we hear an episode from a different podcast in our network, and today's is coming from Optimal Relationships Daily. So without further ado, here's Greg with the post and his commentary as we optimize your life.

[00:01:29] Pressing Restart by Danae Smith of ThisWondrousLife.com. As I ease my way back into the routine of life, I'm finding a need to press restart. I recently printed out my 27 dreams for the golden year. I perused it, smiling at the one dream that has come true and reflecting on the other 26 left.

[00:01:52] Frankly, it's intimidating. I've put a lot of pressure on 365 days. I've expected these 365 days to deliver something to me that I honestly have waned in my co-laboring efforts. With life, we have a choice. We can let it happen, or we can happen to it. I'll be honest. I teetered the edge of happening to my life and being consumed by it.

[00:02:17] But this month, I'm choosing to restart. It is a choice, an opportunity. I don't have to if I don't want to, but I see power in restarting. I know it can feel like defeat to restart, because to restart means to admit that you've stopped. But that does not have to be defeat. In choosing to restart, I believe I'm being powerful.

[00:02:38] I am choosing to shift my trajectory. I'm acknowledging the direction I'm in and making a change. I'm picking up from where I paused and breathing fresh life into it. I'm exhaling all that I've inhaled the last six months. You see, I find July to be a beautiful yet critical month. It's beautiful because we are in the height of summer. The days are officially long and hot. We're taking vacations and spending time with the ones we love.

[00:03:07] Yet in the midst of this beauty, I find that this month helps change the tide. I find for me, what I decide to do this month will impact the rest of the year. This is, of course, true of any month, but it feels particularly urgent in July. I believe this is the perfect time to take stock of everything. It's the perfect time to look over the last six months and celebrate what was amazing and acknowledge what was challenging.

[00:03:35] And in all of the reflecting, I find this to be the time to re-evaluate and hit the ground running again. It's the time to rest up, dream anew, and find joy in it. I don't know where you are in your journey, friend. You may be having the best year of your life. If you are, I applaud you and celebrate all of the breakthrough and victories you've experienced the last six months. I implore you to keep going, to sustain whether the momentum increases or not.

[00:04:03] I want to encourage you that the fulfillment of one dream is the invitation to begin a new one. Don't stop because some dreams have happened. Keep going, dreaming bigger and deeper than before. If you've been challenged the last six months in balancing life and dreams, if you feel behind on the curve, I want you to know there is still time. You have not missed it. You are not behind.

[00:04:27] You are exactly where you need to be in your journey. You have full permission to restart, to dream up new goals and revisit old ones. You have full permission to show up to your life. You may not know where to begin, and that's real. As we continue throughout the month, my hope is to shed some light in that area. But to get your feet wet, whether you are needing to press restart or not, I want to challenge you to ask yourself these two questions.

[00:04:57] One, what season am I in? I define seasons as the phase of life you are in or your personal process. You could be in a season of abundance or in a season of growth. You may be in a season of connection or a season of brainstorming. You may be in a season where you are showing up for the dreams of others while your dreams grow deep roots within you. Whatever it is, it's good to check in to see

[00:05:22] what season you are in. Because from that place, I believe you will find what you are saying yes to and know what to say no. Knowing your why, your yes, helps you create the right boundaries and expectations. And number two, what do I choose to release or let go of? Reflect on the last six months. As we have started the next six, what do you want to release from the last six months?

[00:05:50] What are you not willing to carry with you into the rest of the year? Write down those things and then let them go. Determine within yourself to go through the rest of the year without that baggage. As you write those things down, ask yourself, what do you want in place of those things? There is no shame in pressing restart. There is no shame in drawing a new, deeper breath, allowing yourself to release what you've carried and make room for more. I know for me, restarting

[00:06:20] can be challenging, especially since I'm all about pursuing dreams and balancing everything. For me to restart, I have to admit that I did stop in some big and obvious ways, and I did. I let life take over the last couple months. There's no shame in that, because I get to choose to restart. I get to choose to pick myself back up again and take on the rest of the year differently. And that's something I plan on treasuring.

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[00:08:00] one pair at warbyparker.com slash OFD. I've tracked my income and expenses since 2010, back when that meant a spreadsheet I built myself and updated every day. I loved it, but I still missed things. Categories changed, and I'd go months before noticing my spending had doubled. Monarch Money

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[00:08:52] advisor in my pocket. Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code OPTIMAL at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Money half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at Monarch.com with code OPTIMAL. Really great material from Danae today. Thanks so much to her for that. A post like this really reminds us of the new opportunity that comes in each moment in life. And these

[00:09:22] opportunities come with layers. Not only do we always have the choice to hit the reset button in at least one way, but within all of these moments, we also find ourselves at different phases of life that may encourage us to hit reset differently than we might have even one month prior. For example, my 30th birthday was two days ago. And while it's just a number, I can't help but to think about this

[00:09:47] next chapter and how it will inevitably be different from the last chapter. Regardless of what I want to keep doing the same and can do the same, others are still going to change around me as friends get married and have children and parents age and so on. These are things for me to keep in mind as I hit personal resets and plan for new changes in my life. So not only do we have constant

[00:10:11] opportunities to change, but the circumstances surrounding these changes are always in flux as well. Your life never has to be completely the same, regardless of what your circumstances are. And with that very thought-provoking post behind us, it is time to wrap up this episode today with lots to think about, I'm sure. As always, I appreciate you being here and sticking with me until the end, everyone. Thanks so much for supporting the show. And you know I'll be back with more tomorrow as we

[00:10:40] continue our week here on ORD and where your optimal life awaits.