Sunday, May 25, 2008

The better way

We've all said it, "There's gotta be a better way."
My latest frustration is the same as all of yours- the fact that it costs me a good 7+ bucks to go visit my family half an hour away? That my car costs more to feed than my three kids do? That I fight back tears every time that little orange line inches closer to that looming white "E"?
All of the above, my friends. We're all feeling it. We're all hating it. And we're all wearing down the plastic trying to make ends meet while we do nothing to change it. We don't know what the crap to do!
The quote has been running through my head for months now-
"If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep on getting what you're getting."
I've seen it work that way in my life over and over. Once I make a shift, I get new results- it sounds so simple it's stupid, but for some reason all of us busy bees keep donking our heads into the glass thinking, "Maybe this time!"
My most prevalent small success was when I ditched my shoes some where abouts May of 2006. I had struggled with constant and sometimes debilitating hip pain for years and at the tender age of 23 had mentally sentenced myself to a life of dealing with it. Then the better way plunked down into my lap in the form of watching my crazy brother-in-law run a marathon barefoot. Long story short, the pain is gone and my feet are still bare 24/7 all because I dared to ditch the norm, ditch my kicks and start questioning. My quest began- find the better way.

I'm on the brink of another 'bw' (better way) epiphany. Some have already had this one or else it wouldn't be out there. My dilemma is simple and common- 3 kids, one car, one husband who works his hiney off 20+ miles away everyday, and not enough dough. We've been borrowing a second car from my in-laws and with the little brother turning 16 this year, our worry meter just went up. We have no money to buy a car and no money to pay for the gas. So I stumbled upon it the other day- maybe not the answer for everyone, but a possible answer for me- a natural gas car. If I can find a good used one and figure out the home phill station, the savings on gas would pay my loan payments for me. Now to get the hubby on board.

It's hard to take the road less traveled. It's hard, when the question comes, "Well if it's so great why isn't everyone doing it?" to answer, "Maybe because everyone is stupid in some way or another." We do what society tells us. We do what has been "proven" by average joe after average joe. Well I'm done with it. I'm questioning everything I can afford to question.

Join me. Maybe if we all start searching for a better way for something, we just might find one.