Do you have a savings account?  Do you have a 401K? Do you invest in others, through spending time with them or providing support?  Do you invest in your home, protecting your investment and equity?  We generally invest in others quite often.  We tend to invest in our jobs, stocks, and bonds, in the hope that we will begin to build an independent financial future.  What we tend not to do is to invest in ourselves.  Believing in our abilities and our own skills is a form of investment.  As you invest in things, like your marriage and children, don’t forget to invest in yourself as well.

Over the years, investing in myself looked different.  Education was the first investment I made in myself.   I often think about the time when I grew up.  I’m dating myself when I say that I grew up in a time when the divorce rate was exploding.   Women who had been married for many years were getting divorced and I read stories about how lost they were, emotionally and financially.  They gave up everything to stay home, care for their family, and believed that their husbands would be there for them.  I wanted to make sure I could support myself at present and in the future, so I finished my education and started my career.  Education was important to me and one of my first investments in myself.

I made other investments in myself, including saving for my first house, finding someone to spend my life with, and becoming a mother (one of the hardest jobs I have ever had, but the most rewarding).  I continued to invest in myself over the years, by advancing my career, but I did a lot more investing in my kids.  At some point, I stopped investing in me.  It’s easy to do, as a wife, mother, and career person, but something that I have come to understand as I continue to blog is that I have to continue to invest in my own dream.  My dreams have changed over the years, but I now realize investing in myself still needs to be a priority.

As you think about your own dreams, are you still investing in them?  Having dreams and goals keeps life worth living and lends itself to a happy and engaging life.  No matter what age, you can still invest in yourself.  You can improve your health by eating well and exercising.  You can travel to places on your bucket list and see things you always wanted to see.  If you are still working, you can continue to invest in yourself through education.  You can continue to advance your career.  You can reconnect with your support system, including friends and family.  No matter where you are in your career, or where you are in your life, you can continue to invest in yourself.

Investing in your own happiness is investing in yourself.  Like self-care, investing in yourself takes time and commitment.  It takes scheduling time to make things happen, and sometimes it takes coming back to your path or even embracing a new one.  There are so many reasons to invest in yourself.  If you are not, stop and think about what you would like to do.  If you are investing in yourself, keep going.  It’s all part of being happy, for life.