Living RichLY

Dear reader,

And so it begins: my process of reflective learning 😀

This post is dedicated to my coach and also the creator of the picture above, James Clear, whose epic book ‘Atomic Habits’ has shifted my paradigms regarding identity and systems thinking.

Dear Lynn:

(I might as well be writing to myself since no one else has the same experience, resources and problems, right?)

Well done. Well done. Well done.

Experiences

The experiences you’ve accumulated these past 32 years on earth are beginning to bear fruit in ways you’ve never imagined possible.

As a new mom expecting her second cub, you’re now raising a fine young family. Largely thanks to the support of an extremely dedicated village, you’ve also finally completed your 3 years’ government bond! Teaching rambunctious boys how to prepare financial statements and sell cookies to their schoolmates without using coercion, whilst pregnant – is no mean feat. After all, at one point, you were coughing up blood thanks to 2 weeks of Covid (you made dark jokes about it in school).

In accounting, knowing your numbers is crucial and in business, good marketing and sales skills make or break a company. You spent years building youths to do both, nurturing them with seeds of knowledge and supplying them with as much proverbial nutrients, sunlight and water to grow them into adults of unlimited financial savvy and even more importantly, good morals and great character.

Now is the time for you to take a break, and wait for your personal harvest.

Even with the past two months’ break with the June school holidays and July early maternity leave, you have not been resting on your laurels. You took time to volunteer by co-lecturing 108 tertiary students at Republic Polytechnic on financial literacy and built skillsets as an aspiring content creator – consistently learning, networking and working with professionals to level up. This is despite bearing with third trimester pangs that caused much back tension and fatigue, whilst trying to stay upbeat and optimistic to make the most of your days with your loved ones <3 Well done you.

Resources

In the Bible, one of the names of God is ‘Jehovah Jireh’, or ‘The Lord will provide’.

Indeed, the resources you now have you would largely attribute to your faith in God.

From the outset, it would seem clear that, realistically, you would lead a fairly average life. You consider yourself a heartland girl, studied hard in school, did well enough to graduate with a finance degree and slowly worked towards further studies whilst steadily climbing the career ladder.

However, all that changed when you entered the world of dating and BGR or Boy-Girl Relationships. (yes, you started that late in the game – after graduating from university)

From experiencing a K-drama-style whirlwind romance with your first boyfriend (for more details, reach out to this storyteller) to meeting your current ex-boyfriend and now-husband of 8 years, you and the soon-to-be father-of-two have developed the resources to support a loving and comfortable household. From starting as a DINK (Dual Income No Kids) couple, you now care for your two young children and extended families. Both of you are happy to use the returns from your investments and earnings to sow into the lives of others, buying gifts for loved ones on special occasions and leveraging on the power of passive income to purchase conveniences to smoothen life’s bumps e.g. hiring two helpers to using technology for everyday life e.g. shopping, cleaning, eating etc. Life is good and you are happy.

Now is the time to tap on your resources and use it wisely as you prepare for a monumental task – giving birth.

Today, you’re doing your best and learning how to improve as a good steward of all that you’ve been blessed with, under the tutelage of village elders and guidance of counsellors and coaches who have walked this path before you. Well done you.

Problems

Finally, the problems you face.

This one can be divided into two categories: problems you can handle and problems you can’t.

Your biggest job is to discern what you can be accountable for and to seek help or outsource whatever you can’t. This can be tricky as you secretly enjoy being a bit of an overachiever, or at least – someone who tries to do it all until they hit a brick wall. (it hurts)

To that end, you have done well improving in this aspect.

In the areas of preggy self-care, you’ve followed your gynae faithfully into private practice and are now paying top dollar to ensure quality prenatal and postpartum care. From eating well, going for regular facials, scalp treatments, massages, booking confinement meal packages and securing an upcoming private hospital stay dedicated to nurturing the well-being of mommies, you have done well to ensure the best possible conditions to welcome the little one into the world.

In the areas of personal healing and self-care, you’ve also broken through some pre-conceived notions and self-limiting barriers by investing in counselling therapy, personal coaching and letting go of certain relationships/things that no longer fulfill you. Not only has this minimalist style of living enriched you (less is more), pursuing quality over quantity has also ensured that you spend your time and energy on what truly matters, and everyone around you has benefitted from that.

For everything else you couldn’t control, you have fortunately been able to tap on the power of a village when it comes to raising a child, and benefitted from professionals who have lent their support to seeing you through issues heavier than you alone could bear. For that, the glory is God’s, for seeing you through challenges and gifting you with angels to walk you through various peaks and valleys of life.

Even as your heavy stomach currently feels tight and breathing feels restricted, you take on assignments and passion projects gamely. As you write the ending of this post, you look forward to finishing Jim Kwik’s book ‘Limitless’ on the superpower of learning to learn, and can’t wait to hear Alvin Poh of ‘Super Scaling’ live in a couple of hours as he shares how to help business owners grow their business exponentially. Here’s to you again, and well done.

Now is the time to be thankful and celebrate (for how else should one live?).

Kudos to my coach Shu-Ming, for inspiring this post, and I hope you enjoyed my sharing 🙂

Live to Learn, Learn to Live

Lynn <3