Paying off debt is bittersweet.
On one hand, it is the best and soundest financial decision that I can make. Every dollar that I pay off debt with is a dollar I don't have to worry about. I can just sit back and know that I’m making serious financial progress.
On the other hand, it’s just like throwing money into a black hole. Earn $100? Send $50 into the debt bucket. Hooray…
Without Debt, Steem Power is an Easy Investment
I can’t help but feel a little jealous of the people who are investing heavily into Steem and other crypto currencies. It’s such a huge opportunity to be able to invest and participate in this new ecosystem while it is still young.
Whenever I power up some Steem, or even just avoid powering down, it feels great too. As a true believer in Steem, it feels like every dollar of Steem today will be worth 5x as much in a few years.
But I also feel guilty, because I know I could be doing the even simpler, even smarter thing: Just paying off debt even faster.
Every time I upvote, I want to make it worth more. I think about powering up some SP. Then every time I open my bank account, I remember the even more important thing… becoming debt free.
Gratitude
In moments like these it is good to focus on gratitude:
I am grateful that my debt is less than $20,000
I am grateful that I have paid off at least $1,000 of debt in the last few months just by Steem blogging!
I am grateful to be in the United States, where wages are high and quality of life is good.
Besides, I got myself into debt. It was something I could have avoided or minimized a lot sooner in my life, so, that’s how it goes.
The Mindset For Now
I can sum up my current strategy right now in six words: Don’t Power Down, Don’t Power Up.
Don't power down, because every SP that I collect is worth way too much in the future. Powering down now is tragedy when that Steem could be $10+ down the line.
Don’t power up, because I have to focus on paying off this debt!! I was just posting last week about the idea of trying to pay it all off before the end of 2017 (https://steemit.com/money/@heymattsokol/my-quest-for-creative-financial-freedom-how-to-earn-usd10-000-per-month-it-s-not-as-crazy-as-it-sounds) although that does feel a bit out of reach right now.
Most importantly, we should not compare ourselves to other people. Some people are born into more wealth than we will ever know, and others are born into more terrible poverty than we will ever have to face. We only get one life, and all we can do is be good to ourselves and the people around us.
For me, that starts with paying off even more of this damned debt.
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