“Your best investment is in yourself”

The other day, Paul and I decided to head over to Chick-Fil-A for dinner because I was in a funk and didn’t feel much like cooking. I accidentally parked in the wrong parking lot, which belonged to Panda Express. Although we could easily have walked over to Chick-Fil-A, we decided to go to Panda Express instead since neither of us had ever been to one. The food looked yummy so we decided to give it a try. It kind of reminded me of the chinese places in The Stables in Camden, where there are loads of different dishes out and the attendant lets you try them if you like (Although in Camden, the people behind the counters have samples ready and call out to anyone passing by to try them).

Anyway, we had a few fortune cookies with our meal and the above title was the message in mine. Now, I’m not sure that this statement is always true but right now, for me, it is. I have a lot of free time right now and I find myself often wondering what to do with it. Then I end up doing fairly unconstructive things like playing Plants vs Zombies or a variety of Facebook apps (Hello Cityville) for ages. Not good. Then I find myself feeling depressed and blah because at the end of each day, I feel so dissatisfied with how much time I’ve been wasting. This week I finally gave myself a kick up the butt to do things that are more likely to benefit me. I’ve started going to the gym on our apartment complex more often. I’m writing stuff and reviewing work from my writers’ group. I baked cookies for a friend and Paul’s workmates the other day. I read books and analyze their structure to understand how to improve my own writing. I run errands so that Paul and I don’t spend our time together on the evenings and weekends doing all that boring stuff. In short, this week has shown a much improved outlook for me and the time I spent actively working to improve me has made a big difference. Now I just need to keep it up!

The funny thing about investing in yourself is that it gives you the appetite to do more. Hey I’ve been exercising; Maybe I should go visit all the job boards and apply for at least one job! Hey I’ve written the short story for my writing group and got it in on time; Maybe I should catch up on my jewelry design newsletters! I really do not know why I stop doing all those things. I feel worse and worse, the more I avoid doing constructive things. This week, I am facing the weekend feeling more optimistic about everything. When you invest in yourself, you know exactly how it pays off and sometimes, it leads to a bigger return than you expected.