For me, graduating college feels like getting a big blank slate that I am now solely responsible for. I get to decide what goes on my slate with no interference from anyone else, which is freeing and totally terrifying all at the same time. 

Sitting in church one day with my friends, I realized that I could let the big transition scare me or I could take control of it myself. I decided that I wanted to start out this new section of my life the right way, and I was reminded of the manifesto that I was required to write in my senior capstone class upon my exiting of college. Now I know when you read the word “manifesto,” you tend to think of one of those scary statements that serial killers write, but that’s not what it has to be. It can be a declaration of how you want to lead your life. By writing it down, it helps you figure out what is most important to you.

One of the main themes in my manifesto is to live a simple life. I want to break my habit of wanting, and I’m sure many of you can relate. It reminds me of that Geico commercial of the little girl that says, “we want MORE, we want MORE” over and over again. It’s totally true, we always want the next best thing that comes around block, and I need to break the habit. 

There are many different facets of adulthood, but one of the scariest for me is money. Finance terms to me are what medical terms are for other people. They sound funny and look way more complicated they really are. Because I wanted to start this whole adulthood thing the right way and break my wanting habit, I decided that money was where I needed to begin.

What do you do when something scares you? You educate yourself on it. The more you know about something, the less scary it becomes.

Enter Dave Ramsey. 

Over the past month or so I’ve been reading Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover, and I have learned so much already. 

Out of all finance geniuses out there, why did I choose Dave Ramsey? Well, just like me, he’s a Nashville native, and he’s brutally honest when it comes to money. I like that he doesn’t promise that you’ll magically get rich by reading his book. He teaches that in order to keep control of your finances, YOU are the one who has to change your habits. 

He poses many puzzling questions throughout both books that really make you think. Why is finance so scary? Why do we have such a strong attachment to money? Why is it so awkward to talk about? Why is it so hard to train yourself to manage it correctly?

I’ll be honest, I don’t have mounds of debt like most of Dave Ramsey’s clients, but I am going to implement some of his tips into my life and see what happens.

Let’s break the awkward silence that money talk creates. 

What adulting things scare you the most? 

-Chelsea