Apparently January was meant to be one of those life lessons kinds of months. Life throwing way too many things for us to deal with. And knowing myself and my tendency to take too many things on and not take the rest I need, I decided to really focus on reducing that stress.
January Challenges
- Being the victims of identity theft. It is about 75% fixed, money back, most of the cards closed and credit reports are almost back to normal. What I learned? Get a free credit report every year and make sure that you look over every single page. If you find something that you didn’t open, authorize or purchase call immediately, file a police report and get if off your report as soon as possible. Be prepared to write a lot of letters and spend hours on the phone.
- If you have any suspicious moles go to the Dermatologist. Scott finally went and they ended up having to do surgery last week to remove 3 spots of melanoma. We are still waiting for results to make sure it was only in those spots and hasn’t spread. What we learned? Wear sunscreen, go to the dermatologist and be diligent about checking moles.
- If your gut is telling you something is wrong, listen to it. We are dealing with some other bad health news and spent a lot of time at the doctors office, on the phone with insurance and just trying to wrap our heads around this. I am glad we went in, got lots of testing done and know what we need to do next. Lesson learned? Listen to your gut.
- Beginning to house hunt with very specific needs. 4 properties matched. Only 4. This is a lesson in patience and perseverance. We just need to wait for the right house to come on the market. Lesson learned? Work on my patience. This one is the hardest!
What helped?
- Spending time with close friends. Sometimes discussing all these things and sometimes using it as an escape.
- Yoga. At least 3 times per week. Lets me get out of my head and focus on something good for me.
- Same for hard workouts in the gym. Intervals, cardio, lifting weights all give me a reason to stop and think about something else.
- Knowing this is temporary. February is here, things will change and/or get better. I know I am strong and can get through anything so I focus on knowing that things will change eventually.
- I have a birthday on Friday and I look to that as a fresh start, 32 will be great a year. 31 was full of a lot of of ups and down and I am hoping 32 will focus on those good things.