I'm Kara. I create content about personal growth, productivity, and technology, faith, and my well lived life. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a fresh new article, a roundup of anything I published this week, and other fun stuff in your inbox (most) Monday mornings.
Paved with Streets of Gold
Published 22 days ago • 4 min read
Paved with streets of gold
Kona and I enjoying a morning walk by our freshly paved neighborhood street.
Your environment shapes how you live. I know this firsthand, because I've lived in three very different ones. I've lived in Indiana nearly my entire life. I grew up in a county that currently ranks in the bottom quartile in terms of income. When I moved from there to the state's capital area, I moved to Marion County which ranks about 59th amongst Indiana's 92 counties. When Gayle and I bought the Bestie Bungalow (the name we gave our house) four years ago, we moved to Hamilton County which is Indiana's most affluent county. These three counties are within 100 miles of each other. Hamilton and Marion share a border. It's easy to drive between them. I do it often.
You might be wondering why I just gave you a brief Indiana economics and geography lesson. It's to drive home a point that your environment, what is truly closest to you, matters a great deal in how you live your life every single day. Even if you don't think it does, your environment shapes how you live. Your environment, I would go so far as to say, determines decisions that you make. It determines those decisions even when you think you're acting on your own and exercising your own agency in decision making.
And in today's world, your environment is digital and virtual as much as it is physical. Starting on June 1, our neighborhood was scheduled to have the streets repaved. By no measure did they need to be repaved. There were no glaring potholes. There were no dangerous bumps. But we live in the most affluent county in the state and they repave streets on a schedule and our time came up.
I had gone through having streets repaved once before. My condo community in Indianapolis repaved our internal streets one year while I lived there. I'd dealt with the minor inconveniences of moving your car outside the next day's paving zone and smelling fresh asphalt for a day.
The experience here has been completely different. I won't go into all the details, but we had a moment during it where Gayle had to check me. I had been sucked into the virtual moaning and groaning and complaining in our neighborhood Facebook group about the process. After that conversation, I enjoyed the rest of the process of moving our cars, helping out my neighbors who were carrying groceries, and all the rest.
I have much to be thankful for every day. I'm privileged to be able to say that I've always had much to be thankful for every day. Yet, it's easy to get sucked into what the rest of the world is saying without pausing and acting of your own accord. The grumping in our neighborhood Facebook group wasn't my reality, but I allowed it to become my reality by not pausing to remember that, when we allow it to do so, our environment shapes our world.
Where do you need to make an environmental change - whether physical or virtual - that would lead to more happiness and joy? Hit reply on this email or click the Let's Chat button below to go straight to the I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up Community to chat.
I've been working on a ton of writing behind the scenes. Watch this space for some big announcements coming soon!
What's Coming Up?
Most of the summer dates are posted for our standing events in the community. This includes Facts of Life Book Power Hour, Obsidian Office Hours, and Budget With Me-YNAB Office Hours. Again, more big announcements coming soon so watch this space. I'll link to the next of each of the events below. If you want to see the full schedule, check out the Events Page for free events and the Obsidian Office Hours event for access to that paid event.
Need to "get organized"? Avoiding making calls to doctors, lawyers, insurance, or others? Need to get prepared for taxes? Come join us for a Facts of Life Book Power Hour. Log on at the start time, declare your intention, and then I'll put on some music (breakout rooms will be available for those who prefer to work in silence) and we'll all work for about 50 minutes. At the end of the hour, celebrate your progress with others.
Join us for the bi-weekly Obsidian Office Hours Session.
Office Hours are a time to ask questions about Obsidian. If you have a question, reply to the event with your questions - or attend live and you can get your question answered in the session.
When appropriate, office hours sessions will be recorded and the recording posted here.
Do you want to get a better handle on your finances? If so, join me for a free one hour workshop to talk all things money. This is a great time to hold your own financial date with yourself (which I talk about in the Facts of Life Book Course). Get financial questions answered, see software tools like YNAB in action, or just chat about money. This is a judgment free zone so come with your questions.
America's Sweethearts
Season 3 of Netflix's "America's Sweethearts" yet again immersed us in the world of the 2025-2026 season for the Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleaders. We binged all of this show this past weekend! The women who try out for this NFL Dance squad are incredible athletes, important spokespeople for the Dallas Cowboys brand, and they provide insight into what adult friendships can look like. We paused the show often to chat about something we'd seen or heard. I will look forward to watching Season 4!
I'm Kara. I create content about personal growth, productivity, and technology, faith, and my well lived life. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a fresh new article, a roundup of anything I published this week, and other fun stuff in your inbox (most) Monday mornings.
