365 Questions to Ask Yourself in 2012 - Part 5 & 6

I've been a bad blogger. My time has been thinly spread the last couple of weeks, so I just couldn't (wouldn't) find the time to post. I'm back, rest easy. I know you missed me.

Mark and Angel Hack Life has been getting a fair bit of play lately on my Facebook feed. It's not just me trying to look inward, and better myself in 2012, it's all of us. Or, it should be.

Today I ask myself these questions - "What life lesson did you learn the hard way", and "what did you wish you spent more time doing 5 years ago?"......

The first one? That has the potential to be a doozy of a question. I could tell you I learned the hard way to never leave your email account open. I could tell you that I learned I needed to set boundaries. I could tell you that you should never friend your boss on Facebook unless you have him on limited profile (which, I really hope you do). I could tell you that your metabolism starts to decline in your late 20's, so you really should get yourself into some good habits or you'll be battling the bulge before you know it.

But, I'm going to tell you about debt instead. Debt is SO easy to get into. It is SO easy to use your credit card, then pay your credit card off via your lower interest line of credit, and then rent a place that is too expensive for you to really live in, and eat out all the time, and ignore your bills. Before you know it, you are in debt. Big time. It's far too easy to not live within your means. We have credit cards to thank for that. What ever happened to saving up for something? We purchase on impulse and we purchase on want, not need. We live in a debt ridden society, and it's only getting worse. You have to TAKE CONTROL of your finances, before you find yourself in a hole that you can't even fathom how to begin climbing out of.

I learned this the hard way in my 20's. Back when I had my first job out of university, and was making $40 k a year, I spent money like I was making $60 k per year. Guess what? Something had to give, and that something was my spending habits. Know your limit, spend within it. While spending money may give you a high, debt feels crippling. Just...don't. Trust me.

I don't have many regrets, but those that I do, I have at least learned a valuable lesson about myself, sometimes good, sometimes bad. I wish that 5 years ago, I had saved more money. I wish I had taken better care of my body. I don't drink much, or smoke cigarettes, or eat very much unhealthy food. BUT, I wish that I had found yoga 5 years ago and embraced it like I do today. I wish that I had seen how damaging gluten is to my system and committed to a gluten free lifestyle like I should have, rather than occasionally. I wish that we had begun trying to get pregnant five years ago because now I feel like the only person in the world that doesn't have a baby, or one on the way (what is TAKING SO LONG?!!). I wish, 5 years ago, that I could have told myself that the stress I was feeling over my new career path was going to be fleeting, and that I didn't have to worry about getting fired. I wish I had taken more time for myself, like I am learning to do today.

That's me. What about you?