Author: Stefanie Prince

I am trying to utilise my time better and one of the things that I am focusing on is getting back into reading withe the specific goal of a book a week.

This weeks book was ‘A year without alcohol’ A great read for anyone who has questioned their relationship with alcohol. A very thought provoking book with some pretty major reality checks throughout.

I already know that my relationship with alcohol has not been the best over the years and and the statement “One drink is too many and a thousand is never enough” really hit hard with me. I’m very much this kind of a drinker. I’d rather have none than have one and I certainly would never leave an open bottle of wine.

Alcohol is definitely a thief. It steals time, money, memories and it has at times stolen my freedom. So I am taking back my freedom and living without alcohol for the foreseeable future.

In the past I have stopped drinking periodically and have felt a weird sense of loss like I had lost a close friend. This time though I am excited and looking forward to where this next part of the journey will take me.

All this thinking about the future and where I am heading has me realising that I am pretty unhealthy at this current point in my life. I eat too much, drink too much and do far too little exercise. I struggle with joint pain, i’m at least 10kg overweight and I probably speak pretty badly to myself on a way too regular basis.

It doesn’t help that drunk me at some point agreed to do a half marathon in about 12 weeks time and sober me now has to drag my ass around the course.

I’m also aware that our kids see everything we do and we really are not modelling even a half decent life to them… I mean who wants to aspire to watching T.V in the evening with a bottle of wine.

So this week I have managed to convince my husband that we need to really need to focus on our health. If I am doing all this work to ensure we have the retirement and future we want then we may as well ensure that we are healthy enough to enjoy it.

Clearly if we are to make it to retirement we will have to manage more than just one week. But I’ll tackle it one week at a time.

I thought about giving the 75 hard challenge a go but it would just be more constraints and thoughts running around in my head. So for now it’s smoothies, lemon water and lots of veges and protein it is. You never know where it will lead.

The more I delve into the future lifestyle that I want to live the more I realise that my current lifestyle is really not serving me well.

I mean it’s not an outrageous problem or anything like that but it’s just not heading in the direction that I want to head in. The rate that we are saving we will have a comfortable retirement but not the early one that I was hoping we could have.

The more I crunch the numbers the more I realise that while some of our money serves us well a lot of it doesn’t and if I plan on having a more relaxing future any time soon then I am going to need to find some more income.

So the consideration of a side hustle. It’s an open slate that seems like a big daunting world. My bonus is I have plenty of time as I have to be at the office for 9 hours a day even if I am completely on top of my work. I generally find myself with a couple of hours each day up my sleeve. But I really have no idea what to even consider as a side hustle. I have no idea what I am good at or even what I want to be good at.

I have always wanted to write a book. But where do I start?

Do you have a side hustle? If so what do you do?

No I am not talking about my local pub but my local gym.

One of the constraints I have discovered is how much time I spend thinking instead of doing.

The way my life works or doesn’t depending on how you look at it is I just don’t have time to go to the gym first thing in the morning. If I am being completely honest I can’t stand the gym. I enjoy the exercise bit but it is not a place that I feel comfortable at all. So I find that I spend much of the day thinking about going to the gym.

Will I be able to fit it in after work?

kids have…., no that wont work …

arg I don’t want to go to the gym…

but I haven’t been in three days so I should…

You pay for it so you should go…

The thinking about it just goes on and on and so I have decided to break up with the gym, stop donating to them because lets face it I really don’t get my moneys worth and that money will be better served in an investment account. I will find a form of exercise that I enjoy instead of the dreaded gym and hopefully in turn I will free up a whole lot of head space where I am no longer tormented by thoughts of going to the gym.

We own a little fixed abode caravan about two hours away from where we live. We bought it 12 years ago with plans of escaping to it when we needed a break, creating memories with the children, etc. The reality is we barely have time to come! It’s become a stopover point when one of us is travelling for children’s sports- which makes it useful. However teenage attitudes can seem rather large in such a small space.

This weekend we have managed to escape and I now sit with my coffee pondering the definition of freedom.

The definition I found “The power to act, speak, or think as one wants.”

Haha I can just imagine it if I responded to my children as I would like to some days but I practice restraint and act like the grown up I should be.

As a toddler it’s acceptable to act as you wish, as a teen we almost expect them to be moody and slightly foul mouthed but then as an adult we mostly conform and keep ourselves together. So if I look at this definition and call bull shit! Society would definitely not deem it acceptable if I was to act, speak or think as I wanted.

Where does this leave me on my path to future freedom. I think I’ll come up with my own definition…

What does freedom mean to you?

Discontent Contentment this is how I have found myself feeling lately. I have a good life, loving husband, good business, pretty decent kids (most of the time) I travel occasionally and mostly follow my children around while they play sports and yet I find my self feeling discontent.

I wake in the morning to the vibration of my watch and wonder what it would be like to wake up on my own- no alarm clock set to wake. I get ready for work and wonder what it would be like if I started later or earlier- no hours of opening to dictate my day. What would happen if I wore weekend attire on a weekday? Is it possible to retire early? Am I feeling this way because I am bored, in my early 40s, anxious?

Who knows the answer! I just know that I want to make some changes and document my journey as I do so. A journey of goals! A journey where I find more time for myself, where I find things I am passionate about, where I find some financial freedom and freedom from the grind of every day life and the constraints of time.

What will this look like. I have no idea? I guess that will all be a part of the Journey…

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