Half the time I’m not even sure what I am going to eat for dinner.  How am I ever to figure out where my life will be in 1 year or even five years?  Looking back over the past five years of my life, I wouldn’t have been able to predict that my life would be where it is today.  Five years ago I was broke, working at a low paying retail job that I absolutely hated.  I was floating bad checks to pay my bills and had no intention of changing.  I started working after graduating and had no desire to continue my education.  I was on a dead end path to a meaningless existence.

Things have changed since then.  I have eliminated my consumer debts and have money in the bank.  I am a year and a half away from graduating college with a Bachelor Degree in Environmental Science.  I am focused on succeeding at everything I do and am doing so.  Last semester I earned a place on the Dean’s List and was elected Vice President of a student environmental organization.  My life is a stark contrast from what it used to be.

Without capturing my desire and chasing after my ambitions my life would not be where it is today.  No doubt I could still be working the same retail job if I hadn’t made a conscious decision to quit.  I could still be broke if I hadn’t made a decision to change.  I might not have gone to college had I decided that a Diploma was good enough for me.  Without taking an active role in my own life, I may not have found myself living the life I am today.  For better, or worse, my life is a culmination of every choice and decision I have ever made.

Five years ago looks very different from today and I have no doubt that five years from now will look even more different than life today.  Then again, without goals, my life might look exactly the same as it does today.

So, what do I have planned for my life over the next five years?

In a year and a half, I will have earned my Bachelor Degree.  I have every intention of continuing my education in pursuit of a Master’s Degree.  The University of Minnesota offers a Peace Corps Master’s International program in Natural Resource Science & Management, which I will enroll in.  I will spend one year taking classes then two years volunteering with the Peace Corps before I return home to complete my Master’s Program.  Following this route will allow me to accomplish 3 of my personal life goals; 63) Attend college in another state, 116) Earn my Master’s Degree and 107) Join the Peace Corps.

By this time I will be about 5 years into my future and I have no intention of giving up here.

For a while I have known that the plan outlined above is what I want out of my life but had no idea where to go from there.  Recently, I have come to a conclusion.  My ambitions in this life do not consist of punching a time clock, yet I need to earn a living.  My desire is to live a life of meaning, one where my actions directly impact the world in a positive way.  I wish to control my own destiny and create my own reality.  With these guidelines in mind, I have decided that the best option might be for me to begin a non-profit organization to help improve the quality of life for people in developing nations, primarily in Central and South America.  Exactly what or where or how have yet to be determined but I expect much of this to be figured out while serving in the Peace Corps.

That is my five year plan.  Creating this map will help guide me to my goals.

What is your five year plan?

Eliminating my credit card debt has always been my top priority.  When I created my list of 100 goals, it was my number one goal.  After years of struggling to get out of debt, I managed to pay off the last of my credit cards.  It was the first time in my adult life that I didn’t owe money to a credit card company.

I decided to keep one credit card account open while I began working towards funding an Emergency Fund.  Doing this allowed access to a line of credit while my savings began to grow.  In addition to the line of credit, keeping the account open provided the benefit of 1% cash back on purchases.  I could use the card to pay for Stuff I would buy anyways and earn a little bit of money in the process.

For a while, things were working out fine.  I was able to pay off the balance when the statement arrived at the end of the month.  Over time I began to let the balance slide and I didn’t pay off the entire balance.  This pattern began to compound and before long I was carrying a balance of a few hundred dollars.  I was headed back towards the same life of credit card debt that I had just worked so hard to get out of.

In my mind, I had thought that I could be able to control my spending and use a credit card responsibly.  I thought I could use the card to earn cash back and play the game to my advantage.  I was wrong.  Dollar by dollar I was digging myself deeper and deeper.  The only positive aspect of the entire situation is that I was able to recognize my predicament before it reached a point where it was out of control.  My balance was small enough that with a little discipline, I could be out of debt in a couple weeks.

So that is what I am doing.  I am once again working to get myself out of credit card debt.

This time, instead of thinking I can use a credit card responsibly, I have removed it from my wallet and will not use it on a daily basis any longer.  The only time I plan on using it is to purchase plane tickets, book hotel reservations and when I travel for the security and fraud benefits it provides.  Outside of these specific uses, the card will stay locked away in my closet.  By doing this I am removing temptation and eliminating dependency.

Instead of focusing on paying for my past, I can use that money to save for the future.  I like that idea much better.

The following is a journal entry written at some point during my travels.  I offer it to you in hopes of inspiring you to consider the world we live in during your own travels.  It is one thing to be a visitor in a foreign land and another to be mindful and conscious of the people and culture you find yourself a part of, even if only temporarily.

At first glance, Roatan is an island paradise.  Dense jungles cover the rolling landscape as far as you can see and brilliantly colored buildings greet you as you arrive in port.  In the distance, mainland Honduras peaks over the horizon.  It is an idyllic setting, one which you might imagine as you dream of the perfect island location; white sands, palm trees and a peaceful demeanor.

This is only a tiny fraction of Isla Roatan and in my quest for a more meaningful experience I didn’t need to travel very far from the gated and guarded tourist area.  As we left the port in our rental car, local people lined the sides of the road, trying to sell us tours and trips around the island.  Considering as how this had been common practice in every place we had visited so far, we weren’t surprised.

After getting through the crowds, we began our road trip around the island’s single highway. The colorful and pristine atmosphere of the port disappeared the very instant we left the port.  In fact, we found ourselves in the middle of a country that seemed to be struggling to exist.

As we made our way through a small town at the end of the island, dodging potholes in the dirt road, a young girl, maybe five years old, was walking across the street balancing a container of water on her head.  She flashed us a smile as we drove by.  When we arrived at a beach that had been recommended by a local, we were disappointed to find it packed with American tourists.   Still, it was a beautiful beach so we found a spot further down the shore, away from all of the people.

Erin and I played around in the water for a few minutes, chasing fish and splashing water at each other.  It didn’t take long for our small strip of beach to become the preferred location for a group of tourists who decided to stand directly in front of us while they chattered away about their worldly travels.  We decided to continue our journey around the island before it was time for us to board our cruise ship.  Looking at the map, we chose a random stretch of coastline that looked like it might have a beach and we began our drive to the other side of the island.

It is difficult to describe the living conditions of the island.  The houses were little more than shacks.  Garbage was piled between them and along the ditches.  It felt like I was driving through a third world country, a far cry from the beauty of the colorful port.  The beaches were no longer strips of pristine white sands.  Instead, the water was murky brown against a rocky coast, clearly polluted by the nearby city.

I am not so much affected by the way people live as I am by the way the world attempts to ignore it or hide it.  After driving around the island and having the opportunity to see how people live on the island, I was disgusted by the ”perfection” of the port.  That the majority of people who visit Roatan will never leave the port and will have fond memories of frozen drinks, palm trees, and waiters who spoke with “that cute Mexican accent” is disheartening.

This is what tourists want.  They want to watch reality TV but don’t have a clue about what the reality is.  They want to travel the world, even if it means gates and armed guards “protecting” them from the local people.  It seems ludicrous to me that a country allows fences to be built to keep local people out and away from the tourists.  This is their country and they have more right to be here than anyone else.

I know the world has no intention of changing.  What fun would it be for tourists to have to interact with the local people outside of having them blend their cocktails?  That is just not the experience tourists want.  They are not searching for reality.  They want a key chain made in China from shops owned by American corporations.  They want pretty photos of them standing in the blue waters of the beautiful Caribbean.  It wouldn’t be fun for them to learn what life is actually like for the people in the places they are visiting.  It is good enough for them to wear the shirts they bought in the Port of Call to show their friends how worldly they are becoming.

Before disembarking, I spent a while on the tourist beach next to the cruise boat to try to figure it out.  Being there only intensified my frustration and disgust.  The contrast between the reality of the island and what I now found myself surrounded by was bold.

I stopped to talk with a security guard who was writing something in a notebook between checking tourist’s IDs.  I asked her if she was a writer and she laughed.  I asked her what there was to do on the island and she laughed again, telling me that there was nothing.  I smiled, knowing exactly what she meant.  Of course, try to tell that to one of the thousands of people who have no idea what is beyond the gates and they might think you were crazy, I mean, “Come on!  Look at this place!”

As so many people do on New Years, I set out to rectify a handful of my many faults.  Where do I stand after one month?

New Years Resolutions

Diet:  “I will no longer treat my mouth like a garbage can and junk food will find its way to the trash where it belongs.  I will learn about healthy eating, teach myself how to prepare healthy meals and reduce the number of times I visit restaurants significantly.”

By and large, my effort to improve my diet this month has been a flop and the reason why is simple, laziness.  More times than not, it is far more convenient to go out to eat than it is to cook meals at home.  I did make a couple of attempts at trying new recipes including a Belizean dish and Chicken Gnocchi Soup from Olive Garden.  The Belizean meal was a complete failure while the Chicken Gnocchi Soup turned out just okay.

In February, I will begin tracking how often I eat out and how much I am spending.  By doing this I will be able to track my progress rather than making qualitative assumptions.

Finance: ”I will establish a savings plan to compliment my debt repayment plan.  In doing so, I will create a balance in my finances which will help accomplish both goals simultaneously.”

I have not established any formal savings plan to compliment my debt repayment plan.  Instead, I have been focusing on generally building up my savings account and have temporarily held off on debt repayment.  Since the beginning of January I have saved approximately $650, a solid start.  This has come at the cost of reducing my debt and ignoring a couple of personal obligations.

In February, I will establish a formal savings and debt repayment plan that will help accomplish both goals rather than further perpetuating this imbalance in my finances.

Fitness: “In order to refocus my attention on physical fitness, I have purchased a gym membership and have been exercising on a daily basis for the past couple of weeks.”

I have not continued my daily exercise routine as systematically as I had envisioned, though I continue to exercise regularly.  Now that school is back in session, my motivation to exercise has declined and it is easy to tell myself that there is no time in the day to go to the gym.

In February, in order to combat the excuse of time constraints, I will establish a regular exercise schedule that works with my school schedule.

Health:  “In an effort to correct my back problems, I have decided to begin seeing a chiropractor.  I will also schedule an appointment with a doctor to determine what might be wrong with my knee and learn what my options are to correct the problem.  I will also use this appointment as an opportunity for an annual physical examination…”

I have continued seeing my chiropractor regularly and am pleased to say that I have noticed significant improvement in my back pain.  I also made an appointment to have a physical exam.  My blood pressure was at the lowest level I can remember it ever being.  Before being laid off from my job, my blood pressure was consistently at pre-hypertension levels, at 25 and 26 years old!  I also asked about my knee problems and was given some simple stretches to help reduce or eliminate the cause of my pain.

In February, I will continue working with my chiropractor to further improve my spinal health.

Personal Resolutions

Travel: My recent trip to the Caribbean knocked off almost 5,000 miles of my goal to travel 50,000 miles in 2010.  In March I will be traveling to Germany (~10,000 miles) for a week to visit a friend and in May I will be landing in Reykjavik, Iceland (~6,000 miles) for a week of exploration.  After these trips, in order to meet my 50,000 mile goal, I will have to travel an additional 29,000 miles.  That is a large distance to cover but I have some thoughts in mind for Summer travel.  It is still early in the year!

Education: Last week I received a letter in the mail informing me that I had made the Dean’s List for the Fall semester.  This is the first time I have ever succeeded at this level.

Student Loans: I finished the semester with a 3.8 GPA and in doing so, earned a $2,000 SMART Grant for the Spring semester.  If I am able to keep my GPA above 3.0, I will maintain my eligibility for this grant for the next year.  My personal goal of maintaining a 3.5 GPA is now more than a personal goal.  It is a way for me to minimize my Student Loan debt.

A month in review, some wins and some struggles.  February brings 28 days of possibility!

Today’s article “Debt Sucks!” is being hosted at Do You Dave Ramsey.  Here is an excerpt from the article to whet your apetite:

…and paying it off sucks even more, right?

You work your ass off every single day of your life, only to fork over your money to faceless companies called Visa, MasterCard and Bank of America. You pay and you pay and you pay some more but nothing seems to change. Whether you pay the minimum or you empty your bank accounts to try to pay off your debt, you can’t seem to get your head above water.

What difference does it make anyways? Things are always going to be this way no matter what you do, so why not just pay the minimum, keep a little bit of money in your pocket and go have fun? That what life is all about, fun! And this is your one chance at it so why waste your energy being a slave to your debts?

Continue reading this article at Do You Dave Ramsey!!!

After our cruise ship arrived in Cozumel and we disembarked, Erin and I dodged past the shop keepers trying to hock their cheap tourist merchandise.  We found our way out of the port shopping area and immediately ran into a salesman who could help us get a moped so we could tour around the island at our own pace.

His price was more than I wanted to pay but I accepted the offer as I felt my time was more valuable than trying to negotiate or find another person.  He sent me to talk to another man who showed me a map of the island, explaining all of the places to shop and other such tourist areas.  When he was done with his speech I asked him where it was that he went swimming.  He showed me on the map.  That beach became my main destination for the afternoon.

After making a phone call, the first man pointed to yet another man who was across the street waving at us.  We needed to speak with him to get our ride.  We crossed the street and went into his office, a podium stuck in an alley.  After filling out some paperwork and getting a quick rundown on the operation of the bike, we were on our way.

I have read bad things about riding mopeds in Cozumel but I figured that we were leaving early enough in the day that traffic wouldn’t be much of a problem.  By the time we were 10 minutes down the road, we were bouncing over rough roads and dodging potholes big enough to bury the entire front wheel of our scooter.  It wasn’t the traffic I needed to worry about, it was the road!  Eventually we made it to our first stop, Punta Sur, a beach at the southernmost point of the island.  We parked our ride and headed down to the water.

The waves crashed against the sandy beach.  I have never seen surf quite like this, so I had to strip down to my shorts and get in and play.  I was surprised by how warm the water was.  When I was in Aruba a year before the water always seemed cold.  Maybe it was because I was already wet and cold from the short rain shower I drove through on the way.  I spent a few minutes jumping through the waves and trying to swim into shore with them before getting out to move further down the road.

We drove along about 22 kilometers of beaches, all just as beautiful as the last until we reached an area where the road began to head back across the island towards San Miguel.  I had missed the beach I was looking for but we decided to stop for lunch.  We sat down at the bar and ordered chicken fajitas.  A little while later the bartender came out of the kitchen with two plates steaming to the ceiling, pico de gallo and guacamole.  Lunch was served.  Not surprisingly, the meal was very good.

Seemingly out of nowhere a Siamese cat perched itself on the stool next to me, looking longingly at me and my food.  Ever so slightly it would reach out its paw and touch my leg and then sit there staring up at me with its bright blue eyes.  It didn’t take long for me to give in and share a few pieces of my chicken.

After we finished our lunch we paid our bill and headed out, in search of our beach.  Maybe halfway between Punta Sur and the restaurant we found the beach and it did not disappoint.  When we arrived, there was hardly anyone around.  The few people that were around where further up the beach at a restaurant leaving this stretch of sand to the two of us.  We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area and wading in the water.

I crawled around the huge coral rocks that surrounded the beach and found enclosed pools of water where there were hundreds of tropical fishes swimming around.  It was beautiful.  As I walked back towards the shore I felt something bump against the back of my leg.  I turned around not knowing what to expect.  In Aruba, the fish would nibble at your toes or eat from your hand so I expected to see a small fish looking for a meal but when I turned around it was a white stingray.  I have never seen anything like this before and was quite surprised.  It was about the size of a dinner plate and pure white.  I followed it around for a while, watching it swim near the bottom.  Then, as quick as it entered my life, it was gone.

We packed our bag and hit the road back into town (after having to go back to find my glasses, which I had left on the beach.)  We returned the moped and walked back to the tourist area to get ready to get back on this cruise ship.  Before we did, we decided to look around and try to figure out what all of the attraction was to this sort of place.  There were a lot of shops and a couple of bars but nothing stuck out.  I took some photos of tourists laying (almost literally) in the shadow of the cruise ship.  As we were getting ready to head back to the boat, a stone carving of a Mayan figure caught my eye.  After talking to the vendor for a few minutes, we decided to buy it.

Before leaving, I asked him what he thought about 2012 being the end of the world, and of course he thought it was silly and that it was just a way for people to make money.  “Hollywood,” I said.  He smiled and replied, “Yes, Hollywood.”

In an effort to refocus my attention on areas of my personal life which have been neglected during the past year, my theme for 2010 is A Year of Attention to Detail.

I haven’t spent much time discussing personal finance recently as I have come to the conclusion that I am not the best outlet for complex financial matters.  That doesn’t mean that personal finance has no relevance in accomplishing our goals.  As a matter of fact, having a strong handle on your finances is one of the single most important things a person can do in order to turn their dreams into reality.

Having a healthy relationship with money is an area of my life that I have been working to perfect for the past couple of years.  I still have a long way to go.  The past year I have focused mainly on digging myself out of debt and have left myself in a volatile situation where I find myself relying on my credit card by the end of the week to make it through.  That is exactly the reason I found myself in the mess I was in before.  I was spending my money as soon as I had it in my hand and oftentimes, before it was in my hand.

The difference between now and then is that I am applying my money directly towards debt each week instead of spending it on toys and other Stuff.  It sounds great that I am paying down my debt as fast as I possibly can but in doing so I have been totally ignoring my savings goals.

Having no cushion of money to rely on leaves me feeling vulnerable.  I could request more Student Loans if I needed but that is not a solution.  Doing that would only delay and compound the problem.  Instead, I will establish a savings plan to compliment my debt repayment plan.  In doing so, I will create a balance in my finances which will help accomplish both goals simultaneously.

Debt repayment is crucial in creating a healthy financial relationship but doing so at the expense of your future security is poor strategy.

The following is a journal entry written at some point during my travels.  I offer it to you in hopes of inspiring you to consider the world we live in during your own travels.  It is one thing to be a visitor in a foreign land and another to be mindful and conscious of the people and culture you find yourself a part of, even if only temporarily.

I woke up this morning only miles from the coast of Cuba, near Havana.

From the deck of the ship I watch the pale blue mountains in the distance as we sail through the deep blue water, unnoticed by the people of Cuba.  Miles away, yet worlds apart our cruise ship blasts the sounds of reggae while the people on the island go quietly about their lives.  A lonely man in a black polo shirt leans against the railing of the boat, gazing into the distance.  I wonder what he might be thinking.  Is he considering how the break up of the Soviet Union affected the people of Cuba?  Is he pondering about how after oil imports ceased, the people of Cuba faced a serious food crisis?  Maybe his thoughts are about how the farmers in Cuba have become the rock stars while our farmers are looked at with disdain by the very people they feed.

I look again and notice the man is no longer looking over the rail but instead is checking his cell phone, as if he could receive service in the middle of the sea.  Maybe I was wrong.

The cold weather moves us inside to one of many dining areas aboard the ship.  People are lined up, ready to stuff themselves on pizza and French fries, blind to the daily struggle of millions of people around the world.  Aboard this ship, this vessel of international voyage, the world seems so distant.  In my mind I envision what life in Havana might be like.  I imagine it to be dirty and crowded, poor and impoverished.  Are the pictures in my mind reality or a product of what I have been sold by the media over the years?  How am I ever to really know without experiencing Cuba firsthand?

Looking over the rolling blue water that separates our ship from the shore, I imagine a small group of people willing the risk their lives on a makeshift raft in search of a better life for themselves and their families.  They are willing to risk everything in the pursuit of their goal.  On a map, the distance from southern Florida to Cuba seems so insignificant and now, as I find myself somewhere between here and there, the reality seems so much different.  The journey that these people will face after they push their raft into the water is amazing.  It takes more than courage.  By committing yourself to such a journey, you are putting your life into the hands of something more powerful than yourself.  You are submitting yourself to the mercy of Mother Nature and putting your faith into a higher being.

If it is something that is driving these people from their country, we need to find empathy for them instead of attacking them with the strong arm of the law.  We have a responsibility to protect our country and the only way we can accomplish that is to help our neighbors in their own homes.  Instead of offering weapons of destruction, we can offer opportunity, education and hope to these people.  We are a world power but we are using that power in a way that is not conducive to our own safety.  We should not be policing the world and we should not be fighting overseas in the interests of oil and greed.  Our wealth and power would more wisely be spent building schools to educate, clinics to cure and wells to provide clean drinking water.  These small actions will do more for the security of our own country than any amount of bombs and bullets.

If it is something that is drawing these people into our country, we need to be more appreciative of the life we have as Americans.  We take things for granted everyday.  Imagine an America without electricity, proper sanitation and no clean drinking water.  Imagine a day without eating and try to imagine living your entire life without proper nutrition.  As we sit on the top of the pyramid looking down at all of the struggling people, it is easy to say that it is their own fault they are where they are today.  It is not so easy to reach down and pull these people up to our level and share the bounty of our Earth. 

Bright and early Sunday morning, Erin and I will be leaving the cold winter weather behind.  We fly out of Minneapolis at 7 am and by early afternoon will be in Miami on our way to a cruise ship headed for the western Caribbean.  Originally we were planning a trip to the Keys however, after researching the price of a hotel, food and entertainment for a week, the cost was comparable to an all-inclusive cruise ship.

Cost wasn’t the only deciding factor in our choice to take a cruise.  Travel and adventure were the real motivators in our decision.  While the Keys would be an unforgetable vacation, being able to visit Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Grand Cayman sounded even more spectacular.  Our minds were made up, we booked our cruise and now, what once seemed like ages away has finally arrived.

I will admit, the idea of taking a cruise made me feel like I was lowering my standards of travel.  To a degree, I continue to hold this opinion.  When I was in Aruba, seeing the hordes of cruise ship tourists swarming the streets of Oranjestad in search of overpriced trinkets turned me off to the idea of ever participating in such blatant disregard for the culture and people of the places I would find myself visiting.  By my estimates, many of the people never left the two block shopping area next to the pier.

I vow to do better.  A cruise boat for me is nothing more than a means of getting from one place to the next.  With less than a day in each place, it will be difficult to find the heart and soul of the islands but I will try.  I have no interest in shopping for souvenirs and no reason to eat at American restaurants.  With my precious few moments, I hope to experience real life in the places I visit, to share my time and surroundings with the people who live there, not thousands of other American tourists who think they are worldly travelers as they lay on the beach in the shadow of the cruise ship.

I already have some plans and ideas rolling around in my mind and no doubt I’ll find myself participating in some tourist activities but I want my experience to be different.  I do not want to participate in further perpetuation of the stereotype that I hold in my own mind about “cruisers”.  I hope I am able to live up to my own standards!

Bon voyage!

In an effort to refocus my attention on areas of my personal life which have been neglected during the past year, my theme for 2010 is A Year of Attention to Detail.

I do not eat healthy.  I treat my mouth like a trash can.  Even though I have come a long way in changing my diet over the past year, there is much room for improvement.

The first step in improving my diet is to quit drinking soda.  I have tried to stop before and failed.  This time I have a plan that I hope will help break the habit once and for all.  Instead of trying to stop cold turkey, I have decided to first stop drinking soda with caffeine.  I will allow my body time to adjust to this shift before slowly reducing the amount of soda I drink until I am no longer drinking any soda.  I have not set a timeline as I feel that the shift will be a natural progression.  Allowing for error will also greatly improve my ability to quit as I will not become discouraged or frustrated if I stumble in the future.

The next aspect of my diet that I want to change is the number of times I eat out at restaurants during the week.  Not only is restaurant food generally unhealthy, it is also expensive.  Much of the reason I frequent restaurants is to indulge in some of my favorite dishes.  All of these meals are simple and can be prepared at home much more cost effectively.  With the Internet on my side, I will teach myself how to cook these meals at home (and share my experiences with you on my Facebook Fan page).

I will no longer treat my mouth like a garbage can and junk food will find its way to the trash where it belongs.  I will learn about healthy eating, teach myself how to prepare healthy meals and reduce the number of times I visit restaurants significantly.