I am honestly feeling good right now. I’ve just emailed the invoice over to the client, and I’m waiting for a response (well, that response being the deposit payment). I am thankful because they have agreed to the 50% upfront amount that I’ve requested. Thanks to the trust that we’ve built in the past when they engaged me on a part-time basis.

So, this morning, while I was walking over to the library, I was also thinking about something else, “I need to take care of myself.”

I say that not because I’m thinking about my own self-interests. At this very point, I’m still thinking very much about what my family needs and to me, their needs have to come first. They have to. That said, I was also reminded about something else. If I am unable to take good care of myself, how am I going to be able to take care of someone else (mainly my parents). The last thing they need right now is for me to fall ill, or be unable to work. And the only way that I can be more responsible as a son and as a sole provider of the household is by taking care of myself.

So, out of the S$400.00 freelance deposit that I’m going to receive, I’ve calculated that I’ll need to set aside at least S$300.00 for my family’s needs. The remaining S$100.00 will be for my own essentials including food, transport, mobile data, health insurance and a few basic personal care necessities. I won’t have to use the whole S$100.00, but it’ll just make it easier to calculate and keep track of. That’s basically my budget for now.

As much as it concerns me that I still don’t have enough (just facing facts), I like to think that God wants me to take better care of myself so that I can keep going on this really long journey. When I think about where I am today, in this very moment, it is my belief that I’m on the starting line of the next stage/phase of my life (both professionally and personally speaking). And there is clearly a long way to go before I can get to that next milestone.

For the moment, I am still trying to raise the funds/balance that I’ll need. It is for sure tempting to want to rush through my freelance gig just to get paid faster, but I also know that by rushing through the project, there’s a chance I might miss something, or not do something as well as I could’ve done it if I had taken the time. So, no, I don’t think it is wise for me to rush through this freelance project. I’ve already told the client that I’ll need time until next week to finish the work. So that’s the timeline that I’ll be sticking to for now.

Maybe, today will be the last day of skipping my lunch (since I’ve made the decision to skip it 1.5 weeks ago). So I praise the Lord for this new change/progress.

Related Blog Posts:

Raising Funds for the First Time. #shorts

Experiencing a Mindset Shift. #shorts

Sharpening Our Axes | Eccl. 10:10