The Business of Rebuilding: It's Only "Too Late" if You Don't Start NOW!

I have been working on doing bookkeeping for my annual taxes... and during a quiet "rest" moment, I got to thinking about how it was at about this time in 2022 that I made the difficult decision to power down a lot of my Steem because we were left with no other likely means to pay a US $6,000+ property tax bill.

So, since it was either that or possibly lose our home to tax foreclosure, I had to accept the realization that even though my goal was to keep building my balance, the ultimate reason we have assets of value in these accounts is so that they can serve as a sort of emergency fund, when a difficult situation arises.

It didn't necessarily make me happy, but at least it offered a small sense of relief.

I chose to not dwell too much on this unfortunate event, and instead chose to focus on the more important process of rebuilding.

It's all too easy to get wrapped up in being sad and depressed when we have dealt with a difficult choice... and for some people, it can actually become a place where they end up getting stuck in their lives.

For me, there has been no shortage of "down events" in the course of my 62-odd years on this planet.

One of the things I have learned along the way is that the most important thing we can do for ourselves is to almost immediately focus on rebuilding what was destroyed or lost. I'd say that part of the reason that works for me rather well is that it takes my mind off being angry at the situation I found myself in.

In this case of my Steemit account, the challenge ahead was pretty huge, because much of the balance that was sold off had been built during a time when often $7-8 SBD allowed me to buy substantial amounts of Steem on a regular basis.

Coming back has not been as easy!

As I come up on the anniversary of the "tax debacle," I have only managed to gain back about 20% of what is gone... so far. But it has certainly been helpful that I got started early... and have stuck to my goal of blogging regularly.

The whole affair has been a good reminder of the value of "starting early," on everything from investing, to saving for retirement, to pretty much any long term project you might undertake.

I expect it will still take me some years to get back where I was before, but that's OK... working diligently and with determination will eventually get me back to where I want to be.

Could happen sooner, of course, if some sort of unexpected windfall comes along. But I am not going to hold my breath for that one!

So... when things go badly, in some way, remember the value of getting starting on the rebuilding process, as soon as you can!

Thanks for reading, and have a great Friday!

Do leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 2023.02.16 21:42 PST
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