We all have hopes and dreams and they constantly change. Sometimes we adjust our lives to be able to reach our goals and sometimes we make goals that fit nicely in our lives. I don't know which ones are more rewarding and satisfying or easier to reach. I strive and crave change. I make plans and look for challenges whenever I feel that life is boring or too easy or on cruise control. 

This years challenge has been to pay off my house. It has been a work in progress and as the year progressed, I could see a way of taking on this challenge and making it happen. Selling the last corvette in February started all the wheels turning and when I put it all on paper, I knew I could do it. It's been a year of lots of hard work and long hours but it's almost here. I have all the money in my bank account and sometimes before this year is over, I will be debt free. The thought of it makes me very excited about the new year and about the new approach to my financial life. I have not been debt free in a very long time. Since, I have made great leaps in my financial education and I have a different approach about life. I have grown and learned so much and I can finally feel that a shift has been made, that life will be more about living instead of having to make a living.

There are a lot more pieces to this puzzle of mine called life, but being debt free filled in this huge gap. I can work on the little pieces in the next few years and enjoy it all coming together the way I imagine it should. As my children are starting their own lives I want to switch from provider to adviser. I want to start thinking more about my well being and be more selfish. I want to do more of the things I enjoy and want to do, than the things I have to do. I have yet to figure out who I am and what I want. The ever changing circles of life make me reassess my role, from wife to mother, to caretaker, to provider. I have embraced every given roll and I have become very aware when things are changing, I can feel when there's a shift in responsibilities and when I need to rethink my role. I can tell a shift is coming and I am so very excited. While I don't see it clearly yet, I am starting to form it in my thoughts and put some plans on paper, however crazy they might look at first glance. This new step in my life looks to be the most self centered as it is a period between being a constant need to my children to being needed by my children in their future lives. I feel that I have a window where I can think of me and reshape my own life, concentrating on pleasure and self development. I chose to take this step and while I am aware it will be the most challenging of them all it is one I look forward to the most.