Chapter Three: Pushing Through Resistance
Chapter Three
Why is it that when you decide to make a huge life change, something immediately comes trying to knock you over? Once I decided to change the way I handle my responsibilities and be more like Matthew 25, things started to break. I read about this in Dave Ramsey’s book, “Total Money Makeover”. It said that it’s almost like God giving you an immediate test to see if you’re really serious.
When Resistance Hits
We saved the emergency fund and were about to start the debt snowball when the engine in our family vehicle broke. One car for our big family was inconvenient and not sustainable. We could have fixed it, but it was going to cost over $5000. We still owed over $4000 and it was only worth about $3000. We were upside down in a useless vehicle.
We had to figure out a way to stick to the plan of getting rid of liabilities and we needed a car. So, I saved up a little bit of cash and started watching Craigslist. This is a huge testament to how supportive my husband is of my projects. He was more inclined to get another car loan, but I saw this as a fun challenge, and maybe a test of my faith.
When You Want Something Different, You Have To Do Something Different
I found two, what I call, “cash cars”. I paid $2600 for both of them. Then we paid off the broken car and sold it for $300 to someone who wanted to try to fix it. I tried not to think about the loss or be discouraged with all the steps backward we had to take in order to take any steps forward. We ended up in a better position than we would have been, a car for each driver, but it was hard and frustrating in the moment. The two “cash cars” aren’t flashy, but they work and I’m proud of them.
Your Current Life Doesn’t Like It When You Start Moving Things
I don’t know why things get harder when you decide to make a change. It’s almost like some unseen force trying to keep you in the status quo…. trying to keep you sleeping. When you set a challenging goal for yourself, something that is going to change your life, it’s going to be hard. You’re going to have to walk on thin ice, cross raging rivers, navigate new terrain in complete darkness, and spend too many nights wondering if your goal is achievable or worth it.
The hard stuff is part of it. If you want to change your life and “level up”, then you have to go deep and let the uncertainty just kind of sit there with you. You’ll lose things, you might even lose friends, but your if you really want to create a new end to your story, you have to push through the resistance.