When you’re in a position where time is money (and big money) or your income is some form of “eat what you kill,” it’s not easy to simply take a step back and turn down thousands of dollars. It pained me to take a long weekend when I looked at a day off as a major expense.
That attitude did help me gain financial independence more quickly, and now I have a newfound perspective on time and money from a position of having Enough.
There’s always that moment when someone asks to pick up my shift or case that I find myself hesitant, even reluctant, to do it. I struggled to figure out why and I think I’ve narrowed it down to two things.
A lot of that depends on my financial situation. One way I try to combat this fear of the unknown is by being aggressive about creating multiple streams of income so if one income stream falters, I’ll have other sources to fall back on.
In my specific situation, giving up the shift means losing income, while the reward is the pleasure of spending that time as I please. It hurts to “lose” that money quite a bit, even though I gain something far more valuable–time.