You know when your heart desires something, and then soon enough, you begin to see alignments of circumstances hinting to you that "it's time." Well, that's pretty much what I am experiencing. I feel as though the new year that's approaching, 2024, would be a transformative one. And the discussions I have had with people lately and some happenings (good and undesirable) are telling me so.
To be fair, I think every year is going to be "the year"—the year that I feel like I am going to have such a big change in my life. Usually, the change is about self-development, but it's been inclining towards financial independence. But I do not think I am being fair to myself by saying that "the new year is going to be it," when it's a process in reality.
Every year has been transformative in some way, whether I see it or not. The previous years have led me to this point that I am now—the very point that I am yet making new decisions and taking new steps, all to bring me closer to the person that I desire to be. So therefore, saying that the new year is going to be "the one" is simply telling myself that this year was a failure. And, also, who am I to make bold proclamations about the future? My job is to work towards it.
So that's what I'm doing. I am working towards being much closer to the Jay that I desire to be. And when the very same questions that a friend had asked me a couple of days ago—concerning building myself up to attaining financial stability—popped up in a different conversation with a brother of mine today, I couldn't help but reflect on the alignment of these discussions. It's as if the universe is echoing back the questions that linger in my own mind.
I'll be honest with myself and say that, although not everything revolves around money in this life, there are many things in which money has a role to play. And to attain certain levels of achievement, one has to make some investments, which sometimes involve finances.
Part of the things I hope to achieve in 2024 is my dream space. A space that would facilitate and help boost productivity and creativity by housing my ambitions in a design most befitting for me. The first, second, third, and fourth parts were about visualising the space, defining the tools to achieve it, selecting a board of trustees, and being present for my trustees as they would be for me, respectively.
If I could jump right in to begin bringing my dream space to fruition, I totally would. I mean, there's no point in stalling if that's possible. There are constraints, however. And some of them are the fact that I am serving my country under this necessary civilian programme where I was posted to teach in a very faraway land, and the fact that getting the ideal location and fund for it isn't exactly straightforward. So bit by bit, I am working on it.
The idea is to build streams of income that would enable me to grow savings and make investments. To be valuable enough in the marketplace to earn what you'd like, you have to work on yourself and develop the values that the marketplace is seeking. Jim Rohn said those words. And so I am now looking at building skills to add value to myself.
It is still in the works. Nailing the particular set of skills I would like to develop and hone for the next couple of months is still undecided. The roadmap, however, is becoming clearer with each passing day. And the steps that I am taking are to get engaged with courses and materials for the path I would eventually take, and then find ways to monetize it as I walk down that path.
Since I have only completed six months of my service year and would need to be far from where I would like to reside long-term, I am dedicating these few months to getting a job that would bring in some income as well as developing the skills I would like to hone and then monetize. Somehow and in some way, I am going to build the finances to fund my dreams and make them fly.
You see, the people I had the conversations I talked about earlier are the members of my Board of Trustees. And for the reason that they have always been rocks in my life, as I have portrayed them today, they made it as my trustees, because that's exactly what they are.
It's all coming together, and I have Dreem, the one who inspired all these plans, to thank. I didn't exactly see myself coming this far with this dream, but it's all part of things working together, I guess.
In a nutshell, the roadmap is to develop means to earn money, earn the money to grow savings and make investments, and then fuel the realisation of my dreemspace. It sounds like a plan, doesn't it? And part of that plan is to come back to tell about how I made the dreemspace a reality next Christmas.
Merry Christmas 🎄