failure

I did not want to write this blog. I still do not want to write this blog. And I take no joy in writing this blog, but I feel obligated to write this blog. I failed my February experiment. I won’t go into the details, as they are not pleasant to recount, but I will tell you this:

On Thursday, February 23 I was invited to an event that I had not budgeted for. I attended knowing that I would be left with just R 15 for the last six days of February, but I thought I could eek out a living off of this. But then something unexpected happened (Note to readers: if you are ever doing anything with a group of South Africans, expect that something unexpected will happen) and I not only spent the last of my R 1000, but also popped out some additional money. In short, I failed.

Although I failed, I don’t think my efforts were for nothing. I gained new insight on what it might be like to be truly strapped for cash – it is stressful, it is bare, and it is unforgiving in the face of emergencies or the unexpected. But I still fell short of my goal. And I am not okay with that.

So I will try again. I don’t when and I don't know if the details will be exactly the same, but I will try again. It won’t be in March – I miss fresh vegetables and chocolate too much. And it won’t be in April because I’ve already planned an Easter trip to Zambia. But I will try it again and I might even write about it, again.