Idiot Entrepreneur Hindsight Bias

I am not the typical hippie you will run into on the street. However, on second glance you will notice my alkaline water preferences, natural gemstone jewelry and an air of mystery... at least that is what I have been told. I do not intend to pursue a career teaching the wisdom I have developed because, to be honest, I think life coaches are all crooks. Well, maybe not all of them, but the ones who solely live of profiting from showing you how to live when they can barely afford their own rent/expenses.

Additionally, I don't trust any advice coming from someone I could not see myself friends with. That has always been a quirk of mine. But, in the spring of 2016, having noticed that I was 15 pounds heavier and 10k more in debt than I had started, I had a long self- talk and decided to give my two-week notice at the end of that day.  It was a long time coming and was discussed as a tactical shift, with my significant other for about 6 months. I was excited that he was happy to see that I had finally seen I "grow a pair," and begin the treacherous and long-awaited move towards making life work for me. This is about the time when I discovered my Idiot Entrepreneur Hindsight Bias.

Over 2 years ago, it happened to me. Once it did,  it was easy for me to believe that  I always knew the outcome in advance. I started to look at the decisions and emotional connections I had related prior-to and leading up to this quiet epiphany. I started to think about a term I learned about in a psychology course, (which I, of course, was forced to take)  since I knew a majority of the information would be utterly useless to me in the long run.   I am glad some knowledge stuck... the parts that mattered.

The formal term Hindsight bias is when, after an event occurs, we feel we already knew what was going to happen and makes you feel as though "I-knew-it-all-along." 

So here is the real story; there I was, sitting in my office filing papers for a man who clearly cared less than 2% about his customer's financial portfolios. I watched as he was argued with his ex-wife about alimony and child support, with no regard to the client who was in plain view from his door. Even after  I  cleared my throat and texted him to get off the phone since he was already late and his next client had entered the office. I went about greeting his next client with a firm handshake and quickly gave a grimaced look to the financial advisor who sold me on leaving my comfortable 9-5 job to become his Executive Assistant. 

Initially, he had promised me an opportunity for better self-education and greater personal financial success and lured me  to what seemed like greener pastures. Well, while there were plenty of Bahia patches that weathered the hot southern Texas summer the first year, this small little Bermuda triangle pasture I had dug my roots into soon felt as if it was getting smaller and smaller.  In terms of pastures, I felt suffocated and as though all around me were more muddy and bald turf that I did not see before. 

I desperately desired a change in my life. This career move was wasting my time and not helping others, not even myself. My physical and emotional well being had slowly begun to decline after the first year of working for this company.  It was time I took a step back and risk failure for an opportunity to procure inner wellness.

I suppose my biggest fears were related to my Health Care and Retirement. For so long I was scared to work for myself with the prospect of not having a retirement or adequate healthcare. This is one of my biggest misperceptions and fallacies that I had bought into for most of my life. If you are like me, and life decisions are plagued with fear and concern about a changing global economy that you have no control over, quit worrying, and make a choice to play in the game, not for it.

To begin, if you think you are a lazy or not great at investing your own money, then it is up to you to learn as much as you can and/or find the right advisor who can help you reach your retirement goals in a realistic time frame. I obviously should already know this;  I worked for one of the worst kinds of advisors and submitted most of his 401k/ Roth IRA rollovers, so knew somewhat how to play with numbers. 

Second of all, although I suffered from ADD all of my life, I knew that by getting more active, finding stimulating hobbies and diving into self-exploration were self-medicating practices. Most of the colds, cases of flu and ailments I suffered for the past 10 years were stimulated and provoked by fear, anxiety and over medication. It was time for me to grow up and become the women I admired. She persevered and was resilient. This would also give me an opportunity to learn how to remove my body from pharmaceutical toxins and pills that I was so afraid I could not live without. When in fact, I just did not want to live without them.

So, with that said, Wellness a' la mode is a blog I have created to give a younger generation a modern look at what a balanced life looks, feels and smells like. I am honored to have a platform to talk about the practical application of meditation, (while touching on some reiki practices) as we venture one week at a time through the chakras of the human body. I hope you will find it spiritually cleansing as well as inspirational in your own life. For me, learning about holistic healing, healing crystals and the use of herbal remedies has led me on a  path of awakening and self-discovery. 

My continuous journey focused on balancing the spiritual talents I always placed on the backburner in pursuit of American Happiness. In my world, I have many fences that I get to cross and lines in the sand that I can adapt and grow with. I have learned to capture the essence of me and still make a living doing what I currently love while freeing myself up to the possibility of change.