#2014resolution

The first time I took concious notice of my health must have been when I was 27. At age 27 I came down with a case of shingles. To those who are not aware, shingles is chicken pox with vengeance. The chicken pox virus you picked up during childhood stays dormant in your body until one day when your immune system is out of whack, it creeps back and causes ravage to your nerves. Ouch. What shocked me and put this whole ordeal into perspective was the fact that you usually only hear about shingles affecting seniors. Frail old people who have compromised immune systems get shingles NOT young, healthy twenty-somethings. Oops, looks like that's where I was wrong. At the time I contributed this outbreak to the pressure and stress I had been enduring at work. A study I was working on was pushing for results quick. Days were long and sleep was minimal. It was a period comparable to the Chinese saying "There is only time for death but none for sickness." Shingles, inevitably, put me out of commission for a couple days as it's contagious to those who never had chicken pox before. During this time, I thought about what had happened and decided I needed to not work so hard and take work less seriously. As you can see, I blamed work. I never once thought about changing my eating, exercising, or sleeping habits so as to repair my immune system. This attitude put me in a negative mindset towards work which I have yet to totally recover from. Yes, although this experience did put the spotlight on my health, it did not prompt me to do anything about it in a positive way.

At 28 I went on a diet and exercise regimen for the first time. I had to attend a family wedding in several months and wasn't prepared to hear comments on how I got rounder. Never having had to watch my weight, witholding the consumption of food and sweating it out daily was a real eye opener for me. It was so hard! I'm a sugar addict and candy is my weakness. Soft and sour gummy candies with sugar coating (cue Sour Patch Kids, Shigekix, Haribo, Jelly Tots). And honestly I've never been a fan of exercise. I admit that I feel good and more energized immediately after but this short lasting adrenaline is barely enough to bring me to begin my next workout. Ugh. The only thing that got me through this routine was my goal. I had my eye on the prize and my obsessive nature would not allow me to fail. In the end I was successful. I must have lost 8-10 lbs during this intense period. I learned I could no longer take my metabolism for granted and in order to maintain what I felt was a reasonable weight, I had to make an effort and put in hard work! Notice I still have not mentioned anything about health and fitness. This was not at all about that, it was me trying to lose weight. I didn't care if I looked like I was dying, I just wanted to fit in that dress. Health, even two years ago, was to avoid being called fat.

Today I am again back on a strict diet and exercise routine and not surprisingly, for the same reason. However, the mindset is somewhat different this time. Yes, I still want to look good in my dress but I don't want to just look skinny. I want to look tone and fit. Yes, I don't want to be called fat but I actually want to be called fit. If I can accomplish this, this would be my biggest health related feat EVER. To help myself along, I have immensely decreased alcohol and tabacco consumption. I was delighted to wake up sober Sunday morning and find myself with plenty of time and energy to go out to shop and stroll. And having the feeling of a lighter lung while exercising was quite elevating. By changing little things, hard work was made just a little bit easier.

This time around, diet and exercise isn't just about the number on a scale. It's about keeping an ongoing resolution for a healthier and more balanced lifestyle. I want to feel good by looking good and look good by feeling good. Being more aware of my health habits has helped to put the way I was neglecting my body into perspective. Recognizing the problem was not the hard part, it's not getting up to do something about it that often holds us back. In my 20s, I never bothered to take notice of my health. There was always something more important in life that had to be looked after. In my 30s, I hope to put my health in higher regards. Health is always being taken for granted until one day we lose it. I need to find a way to follow through with my exercise schedule and sustain a life with healthier food options. Bottom line, I should take care of my health and take care of it starting now.

Self-rating - Start taking care of your health now, not later.

My obsession with money, well it's more of an on and off obsession, started when I landed my first job and made a stable income. Once in while you would see me at my desk with the online banking page open crunching numbers. How much money to give to the parents, how much for saving, how much to spend? Is it all arbitrary or is there some golden rule? The answer came to me from Gail Vaz-Oxlade, host of the TV show Til Debt Do Us Part. "Debt"...clever huh? Now I wouldn't say I watched this religiously but I did tune in whenever I saw it on. Basically, the show was about couples who were in serious debt and needed help overcoming this. Gail helped people realize the hole they dug themselves into, provided them options to consolidate their debt and gave them strategies to repay debt, save and spend wisely. I was always so amused by people and their reactions to the realization of just how ridiculous their financial siutation was. I suppose after a while, debt is just a number like wealth is. What's the point of worrying if you'll never escape it anyway. Ignore it, and it's not there. When the supposedly wealthies, doctors and lawyers, came on I was always disgusted. "Really? What's wrong with these people?", I would think to myself, "People in upper class should NOT be having these issues. They make more money than they can spend!" Wrong. If you don't know how to manage money, then you just don't know how, regardless of class. Anyhow, I jotted down, mentally, some of the principals Gail presented and slowly developed a system of my own. Let me share with you what I did that helped me save money. Feel free to call me crazy. 

Follow the golden triangle: 33.33% housing, 33.33% spending, 33.33% saving 

The percentages are tweaked a little here and there depending on the situation. But bascially I try to keep a balanced triangle. Simple!

Place savings in a separate account.

Each month I would take my chunk of money for savings and transfer it to a different account. Mind you, I didn't just shift the money from my chequings to savings account. That was too easily assessible for me. I could just walk to the ATM and withdraw from savings. Nono, not good enough. What I did was open an online bank account with ING Direct. That's right - high(er) interest, no bank cards, no ATMs (ok maybe one or two). It would have been too much hassle for me to withdraw anything from this account and knowing me, I am just too lazy to make this kind of effort. And so, i just chucked the money there and watched it grow, slowly.

Invest in government retirement savings plan

Back home, this was the RRSP, short for Registered Retirement Savings Plan, a Canadian thing. Since I was saving regularly I had enough money each year to buy my annual quota. The amount invested in RRSP meant the same amount was deducted from my income for the year. And each year, as it turned out, I not only didn't have to pay taxes, I got a return! And if my memory serves me right, it was a sizable amount - maybe around 70%? (don't quote me on that). Essentially, I got paid to save money.

Mark down your spendings, all of it.

There was a period of time when I first moved to HK where money was tight. In order to deter myself from overspending, I marked down ALL my spendings (cue phone app). This helped me identify where my money was going and where I could afford to spend more or less. If you are interested to know, I spent most on food. When you see the numbers in front of you, it feels more real and manageable. This, I admit, was the most money obsessive period of my life. Not obsessive about making more, but how to spend what I had. This went on for a couple months until I got tired and gave up.

Now on with the usual disclaimer. I'm not saying what worked for me works for everyone. It just worked for me.

To this day I still follow these methods, minus scribbling down all spendings. The triangle still exists, I still put money aside into a separate account and I have a yearly savings program I signed up for at my bank. My small savings is growing fine and dandy but for my 30s I want to do more. I want to make money from my money - investment! Saving from your day job just doesn't cut it anymore. And living in a city where there is no tax on income made from investments, I really should be taking advantage of the situation. But where does investment start? How do you go about doing this? I have never been educated in this area and hardly bothered to learn myself. Is there anyone out there who could lend a helping hand and shine a guiding light?

Self-rating - Start saving for retirement now, not later.