Posted on February 26, 2009 - by PanzerGrenadier

Expect the unexpected: navigating the potholes of financial freedom

Photo by karynsig

A popular forum that I frequent has some of its forummers throwing around this phrase that has stuck to me in my journey towards financial freedom.

The saying is simple and yet profound:

Expect the unexpected

The potholes of life

Life’s journey is never completely smooth. Life throws you some potholes and you have to learn to ride out the bumps they present. My life has gone through a number of potholes in the past year. The birth of my daughter has allowed my spouse and I to fully experience the joys and pains of taking care of a baby girl.

The joy is there surely, when my daughter laughs and gurgles when I hold her and kiss her. The pain is there too, dealing with a sick child and worried spouse and don’t let people fool you that having a child is all milk and honey!

It’s tough tough tough for first-time parents especially if you have been more career focussed for the first 10+ years of your life. Looking back at the past year, I’m glad to have survived the initial 3 to 6 months which were the toughest I’ve faced compared to my national service in the Singapore Armed Forces and compared to job assignments. Nothing prepares you for parenthood!

I’ve learnt from my 1st year of parenthood, to “expect the unexpected.”

How to navigate the potholes

The key in navigating the potfholes in life is to be prepared for the unexpected. To set plans in place but be flexible enough to know that things happen outside of your plan and you need to adapt and do the best that you can do.

I have encountered this many times as my daughter is growing up. From confinement nannies to maids to infantcare to managing inter-personal group dynamics between spouse, mother/mother-in-law, maid, myself etc. It left me at times gasping for air and yearning for freedom.

What did I learn from the past one year?

Expect the unexpected.

Learn to let go. Letting go doesn’t mean getting out of your responsibilities and running away from the problem. Letting go means to accept that I am human and I can make mistakes. So long as the mistake is not catastrophic and wipes everything out, I can survive and continue to thrive.

Learn from the mistakes and go forward.

How does that apply to our financial freedom journey? Plenty! In investments, I’ve learnt through the current recession and paper losses in my equity portfolio on maintaining the discipline of not being 100% invested in any one asset class. In this case is to avoid 100% in equities (stocks and shares). Read more…

Related posts:

1. How to Manage Change in Financial Freedom
2. Financial freedom: it’s a mindset, really!
3. Reviewing Your Lens Towards Financial Freedom