For all my talk about freedom and self reliance, I’ve been dealing with a lot of anxiety recently. The root of my fears is uncertainty.

I don’t know where my kids are going to go school next fall.

I’m not sure what my husband will be doing to earn a living in a few months.

I’m not sure where my career is going.

I’m not certain what city–or even state–my family will be living in by the end of this summer.

After spending 10 months moving from campground to campground as my family and I traveled around the country, you’d think I’d have made my peace with uncertainty. As it turns out, I’m still scared of all the things I do not know.
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A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about what was more important to me than financial security. I shared that, for my family, the freedom to come and go as we please has become more valuable than a steady paycheck. The comments on that post surprised me.

I wasn’t surprised to read about different priorities, that was to be expected. What I hadn’t been prepared for, however, were the multiple ways financial security was described.

For some people, financial security means being able to cover major bills and health care expenses. For others, having a certain amount of money equates to security. One commenter mentioned the word self-reliance. I realized there is more than one way to interpret the concept of financial security. It made me take a closer look at my own ideas and examine whether any of them really meant what I thought, what I needed financial security to be.
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It’s tax time.

Or rather, it’s tax time for people who put off doing their taxes until the last minute. People like me.

While I was gathering all of my paperwork this morning in preparation, I lamented my lack of 1) an accountant, 2) a consistent filing system, and 3) ability to be a real grown up. I do this every year.
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I’m reading another book about organization and productivity. This time, I have been reading it aloud to my family so that we can all benefit from the wisdom that is guaranteed to result in more effective lives. It seemed like a good idea at the time, until my husband almost had a nervous breakdown.
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