stella6.com

i grew up pretty sheltered in a Christian/Air Force/ bubble - and looking back, i don’t think i’d really change much, eventhough it kind of turned me into “that girl:” the girl that thinks everyone’s parents encourage them to go to (a private) college and volunteer to pay. the girl that got a car soon after i turned 16 (it was “only” a VW!). the girl that knows she’ll always have her parents to rely on if that need arises. don’t be put off yet. i know that makes me sound pretty spoiled, but it really didn’t seem that way. i have extremely down-to-earth parents who did what was in their power to make my life better without, i feel like, leaving me with that pesky entitlement mentality. i really don’t know how they did it.

it may sound really “entitled” to say something like, “i didn’t realize till i was an adult that some people had to raise their OWN money to go to high school camp,” or make another such assumption. so i guess maybe it is true to a certain extent. but i don’t know that it’s really hurt me. i don’t feel entitled in the sense that i think the world should just hand me things. i’m willing to bust my ass for a good job, and prove my work ethic before i ask for a raise. willing to scrape by for a few years in order to save/invest a bunch of money that will hopefully secure our future.

if anything, i feel like the things i think i’m “entitled to” will only force me to work harder. i guess i do feel entitled to end up with a good job, living in a nice house, in the city of my chosing. able to take vacations if i want and help people out when they need it. is it bad to be raised in a house where money really isn’t an object (while still learning the value of a dollar, of course)? to look at things, experiences and investments objectively, for what they are, not in terms of how the exact dollar amount might make or break you?

what i DO think about is maybe i don’t appreciate all the things i have in my life as much as someone who, for example, “earned” their way through college. (but then, would they really appreciate either taking 6 years in school or having 100 grand in debt?) maybe they’re a little more hell bent on making something of themselves because they DON’T have something to fall back on. i look at ryan and his drive to make his financial plan work. some (like me) may call him obsessed, and there’s a lot of reasons for this - he loves finances and investment and real estate. he enjoys researching and taking on new projects. but i know a big reason he works towards these things is because he wants to create a different environment (in some ways) from the one he grew up in. in that respect he as an extra (or maybe just different?) motivation to make it work.

i also have a motivation, but my motivation is to create a SIMILAR environment to the one i grew up in. and i guess i do kind of feel entitled to that. i may sound spoiled but i don’t think i’m a brat. i’m extremely greatful to my parents for everything they’ve given me - financially, spiritually, academically, relationally - and while i may have “assumed” some things about life and finances while i was growing up, now that i’m older and wiser those assumptions have turned to complete appreciation for the life i was given.