I hadn’t taken a yoga class, much less practiced it on my own, in two months when I entered Todd’s class on Sunday. I purposely wrote “Yoga” in my calendar to remind myself to go. Todd seemed surprised to see me there, and I was utterly embarrassed for my uber-long hiatus. In the 90-minute class, every posture felt more difficult, a little more labored. Even triangle pose tested my tighter hamstring muscles. My pigeon poses needed rebalancing, as evidenced by Todd adjusting my hips to center. The next morning, the inevitable soreness permeated every inch of my unpracticed body.
Many of us undergo a similar experience with our finances. You neglect to rebalance your investment portfolio regularly, and then a market crash destroys it. You forget to pay your credit card bill by the due date, and suddenly you’re faced with a $35 late fee. You don’t review your bank statements monthly, leaving you unaware of the multiple ATM fees and overdrafts eating your balance. You don’t revise your will or beneficiary designations after a major life event like divorce or death, and now your assets get transferred against your intentions. Work, family, and other commitments get in the way, only to have our financial lives collect dust like old tomes in a public library.
After that Sunday of epiphany, I realized how much I missed yoga… and how long I missed yoga. In spite of my sore body, I took class again on Monday, because I needed to reclaim the discipline that I had lost when life got in the way. At the end of the day, I felt rejuvenated, both physically and emotionally. Perhaps we need to write in our calendars “Rebalance portfolio” or “Check bank statements” or whatever good financial habit we neglected. Think of it as revisiting an old friend. It may seem awkward at first, but if you practice it often enough, your discipline will only make the bond with your finances that much stronger.
Isaias Sarmiento
© 2010
