Don't Keep Lying Dormant When You Can Thrive

I love strawberries, and my hubby is a big fan of strawberry smoothies, so this spring I ordered 100 strawberry plants with the intention of planting them, growing them, and enjoying them for a long, long time!

But then I forgot to plant them.

Well, sort of. When they first arrived it was pretty cold outside, rainy, and the ground was mostly frozen, but I was told I could safely refrigerate them to keep them dormant and moist. So the bagged-strawberries settled in on my refrigerator door next to the mayonnaise and Root Beer where they remained for a week.

Actually, it was two weeks.

Ok, if I'm completely honest, it was three! Yikes!

Some of the strawberries looked like they were frozen and possibly dying, but since we had invested some hard-earned money in them I was determined to plant them. That way if they did die I could blame nature and not my fridge. (I know I'm totally to blame, but just work with me here).

So on the next nice day we had I planted them in my garden. In just a couple of days I noticed that they actually appeared to be thriving in their new environment—they were growing leaves and getting bigger.

I told a friend who knows a thing or two about strawberries and he assured me that living in the fridge for three weeks wouldn't be a problem because the strawberries were lying dormant.

Cue sigh of relief.

This got me thinking about finances because, yes, just about anything gets me thinking about finances. No matter how impossible it may seem sometimes we all have the potential to be financially responsible. Making the journey to debt-free living is a choice that has to be made, and until you make it you're just lying dormant. In the fridge. Freezing. And possible dying. The potential is there, but until you're planted into some good soil and given some sunlight you probably don't even that potential is there.

That's kind of what it was like for us going through Financial Peace University. It brought us out of a lifestyle of overspending and debt and gave us the knowledge we needed to grow. It took some time to get used to—just like it's taking my strawberries some time to adjust—but when done right it's possible to thrive, even flourish, in a debt-free lifestyle.

Storms are going to come, and there will be dry spells, but if you stick with it you have a much better chance of thriving than if you stayed in the fridge.

Are you still in the fridge lying dormant, recently planted, or in full blossom financially?

Keep pinchin' :-)