What are you holding on to?

"I'm only lost if I'm going somewhere in particular" - Megan Scribner, poet

The coronavirus pandemic has upended many of our plans. My daughter's wedding has been reimagined as a small family gathering, with plans for a big party delayed indefinitely. My summer vacation to Iceland was replaced by a week in the Finger Lakes region of New York. I know I am privilegd to have a roof over my head and a steady income while others face job loss and financial insecurity. Still, for me and others, this is a profoundly disorienting time .

If the pandemic has taught us anything, there is no such thing as certainty. The best we can do is anticipate the future - and be prepared to pivot when that future arrives and is nothing like what we anticipated! I am a financial planner and am drawn to this work because I find comfort in numbers and the concept of certainty. This period of time has taught me to reframe: my work is to be a guide in a changing landscape, NOT the defender of an outdated map (thank you, Carl Richards)

Every morning, as part of my centering practices, I read a chapter from Mark Nepo's The Book of Awakening. Mark Nepo is a poet and philosoper who wrote: "There will always be times that we need to find our very precise way. But more often than not, our image of a destination is only a starting point we cling to needlessly, Practice letting go of your plan and discover the path of interest that waits beneath your plan."

This may be a strange thing for a financial planner to write in her blog. Yet, a number of years ago, I gave up my plan to have a certain amount of money in the bank before leaving employment for the unknown of starting my own business, and am so grateful for the journey I have been on ever since.

September 21 was World Gratitude Day. Think about what you are grateful for and let that inform the goals that make up your financial strategy. The rest of the year will bring even more change, and I can help you prepare for it.......and then pivot as needed!