There’s something to be said for looking backwards.

I know, there is no yesterday and no tomorrow, there is only today. But if we don’t take the time to review where we’ve been, it’s easy to forget the mistakes we’ve made. And also it’s easy to overlook the accomplishments. Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned recently.

1. My reaction to things is not always logical. Having survived some significant traumas, I have a lot of emotions that may not have been uncovered yet. I’m working on them, but when something goes askew in the present, it often reopens an old wound without me even knowing it. I’m learning to recognize this, and trying to make sure that others involved understand it as much as they can.

2. My biggest financial weakness right now is food. I’m doing a terrible job at grocery shopping and cooking at home. I need to master this, or I’m not going to reach my financial goals. We need a massive realignment for everyone in the house, but I’m not exactly sure how to do that yet. But at least I realize this is something I need to work on.

3. I created an “inspiration” list on Twitter, to contain some of my favorite inspirational accounts into one location so I don’t miss anything. You can read it here if you are interested in what inspires me. It’s mostly a mix of personal growth and personal finance bloggers.

4. I was reminded that sometimes the creative process requires a simmering phase. That’s where I’m at right now with my writing, a point where I’m reading a lot, and writing just for myself, in a process that I hope will help me be more confident in writing for others as well. I have an ongoing internal struggle with own creative process. Some of it is time and logistics, wherein my studio is not at home and it’s hard to carve out the time to spend there. The rest is just me, trying to find my creative self.

5. I’ve been working on getting rid of stuff. We’ve made huge amounts of progress and I appreciate my family’s support in this process. It’s mostly up to me to decide what stays and goes, but the help in actually getting things out of the house has been awesome. If I don’t find it useful or beautiful, it doesn’t belong here anymore. The best thing this week was getting a bunch of stuff out of the garage, so the motorcycle could come home from the shop and be ready to ride!

Those are just a few of my week’s lessons. Don’t be afraid to reflect and see what you can learn from it!