The Friday Feast ~ The 8th of May

I love learning. Always have. So when I find a blog or writer that interests me I devour everything I can find. Every day I move countless amazing articles from an array of  frugal, simple living, FI-minded writers into my Amazing Reads folder to be read at my leisure. These articles inspire me and the Mr. to think about things in different ways, to keep open minds and to constantly keep learning so we can be the best possible us.

In this episode of Friday Feast: The Quintessential Man,  FI Fighter, Adventures in Frugal, the Frugalwoods, White Collar Freedom, Tawcan,  Surviving and Thriving.

Here are my picks for this week's Feast. I hope they inspire you to set financial goals and take control over your heart, mind and - yes, your pocketbook.  There is a fire lit within each and every one of us, and the sooner we find that flame, the quicker we can use it for the energy we need to master our own happiness.

Self Growth:

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a big fan of articles that make me analyze my life and thoughts and hopefully see things in a new way. Constantly learning and constantly growing, right? Anyway, a few articles to think on this week.

First, we talk a lot about trying to be happy and how FI will get us there. However, The Quintessential Man tells us to Stop trying to be happy and do this instead! What is this? I'll let you read the article to find out but this line stuck with me: "The purpose of life isn’t to pursue happiness. The purpose of life is to live." What? Let me know what you think of this one!

FI Fighter helped us with Finding Inner Peace. I actually saved the quote he uses at the end of the article. Love it and fits so perfectly with what I believe and strive for. "Health is the greatest gift, Contentment the greatest wealth, Faithfulness the best relationship." -Buddha. Health, contentment and good relationships are what I strive for in life and it's good to remember that in our quest for FI. Sometimes money seem the most important thing but this is the core.

Want to be more creative? I do! I'm constantly sourcing ideas for knitting patterns and wish I felt more creative after a long day at work. Well apparently, one way for a more creative life is to travel! Adventures in Frugal shares the science behind this claim. I love it! I love traveling. Hopefully once we're retired and doing a lot more traveling I will see if my experience matches with the science.

Success and Why we want to Retire early:

I have never read an article that better sums up my weekly existence and why I want to retire early better than The Quiet Tyranny of the Workweek Schedule by the Frugalwoods. I too count down the hours at work quite often and each morning proclaim how many mandatory 'wake-ups' we have left for the week. Which is funny because we wake up around the same time on weekends too. The difference is we don't HAVE to on the weekend. I actually mostly enjoy my job but being forced to operate on someone else's schedule is not my idea of a free life.

Along those lines, I love White Collar Freedom's better definition of success that he came up with this week. While I may not have worded it quite the same way our definition of success is quite similar to his.

Tawcan shared how to achieve that success! Get in line and stay in line. It's harder than it sounds. Now that we've figured out the plan and cut back our budget to a good level there is not much more to do then keep on keeping on. And this can be hard. But it will be worth it in the end.

Moms:

Both Steve and I are extremely lucky. We both have absolutely amazing mothers who we get to share our dreams and goals and successes with. I feel like I only get closer to my mom as the year's go by and besides Steve, she is my biggest supporter and fan. So a shout-out to all mom's out there.

We promote experiences and not things when it comes to gift giving here, but if you did want to get your Mother a gift this year for Mother's Day check out this article on a Mother's Day gift with meaning by Surviving and Thriving. My mother has recently begun journaling and is finding it an extremely worthwhile venture. I'm going to start travel journaling on our trip to Glacier National Park next month and we've been discussing the best options for me. Another way I can connect with my mom. Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you read something inspiring this week? If so let us know in the comments below!

They have been at a great feast of learning, and stolen the scraps.
- William Shakespeare