Hi, again friends

 I've found some good journals on ERE forums. Wow, crypto really made some people millionaires. It's cool to see people's numbers climb and watch their mindsets and goals change right along with it.

Those of us who choose FI definitely have some common characteristics. Nice to see not everyone favors long term travel or any travel at all. It is is a pretty common hobby, nonetheless.

I think I was fortunate that while I didn't have tons of financial prep, my family travelled quite a lot growing up. So I don't feel that that's an itch that needs a deep scratch. There is a part of me that has always longed to feel settled. I remember dreaming about 30 years in some assembly line job. But it turns out that's not the settled that feels good to me. 

My brother's in town for 3 weeks. After two days of me feeling the need to help him sort out his financial life, I realized today that I can stop! It hit me that I had no memorable data points of this person ever taking any of my advice on literally anything. In fact, he is often trying to fix things I'm doing. And honestly, I don't care too much for his advice either. So ... stay with me...what if we both just let each other be!

The pervasive fear for me is that some of his decision making is going to negatively affect me. For example, he didn't plan his first visit out here well, and now he's bumming out on my couch for 3 weeks. 

This week has been such a great week. I got ahead on my work so my workload was ultralight before next week. I momentarily thought about Monday and felt a little dread in my heart. Groan. 

But yeah, when I don't think about the work, I love my work-life balance. And reading these new journals are a good distraction and way to still interact with personal finance. And it keeps me hopeful. I can't believe I'm so close to my FI number. 

I'm just so happy I made it. 

I hope all this build up doesn't lead to a let down when I finally reach it. I don't think it will because there's so much more to come.

I bought sparkling water to try. Because #shefancy

I just feel overall good. Like there's so much to look forward to. And that's an awesome feeling, especially coming from someone who wrote 2 end of life plans on this very blog.

Without Mint, I do feel a little lost on my budgeting though. 

Alright, that's all for now. Ciao!