How did I change my attitude toward money through losing it?

I lost 50% of my permanent (almost passive) income. It took me 5 years to achieve this.

And here's how I found out about this shocking news and what lessons I learned from it.

A few days ago, I saw the following message: “Your account has been deactivated”.

What do you think was going on inside me and how did it all end?

I want to be as honest as possible with you. In a way, this article is a confession. It is not easy, but it is honest.

So, it all happened at the moment when my wife and I had a small conflict. And at that time I opened my laptop and saw this message. Then I realized how insignificant the cause of our conflict was. In fact, pride has very poor eyesight. Pride exaggerates insignificant things and downplays what is important. This is the essence of the conflict. If I had already forgotten about it in just two seconds, was the cause of the conflict that serious? So, back to the story...

Everything was a blur for me. It was not despair, fear or sadness. It was a shock. It was like I was dreaming.

And I was thinking how and when to tell my wife about everything. I did it in about 20 minutes. She had a similar reaction to mine.

However, at the same time I thought the following: “God has given, God has taken. May God be glorified through this situation.” And I thanked Him, knowing that He is wise, incredibly loving, He has the right to do this and everything is in His hands. This is what kept me from despair and fear, but, on the contrary, gave me the ability to remain grateful.

However, at the same time, I was saddened by the fact that I had the wrong attitude towards this money. I had a rethink.

What exactly do I mean by that?

I realized that I had not been generous in my management of these finances.

Yes, I was striving for it, but not as much as I should have been. I had the following thoughts: “Often I have held on to a small amount of money so tightly to keep it safe. And in this way I deprived my wife of joy. And in this way I shared less of this money with the people around me. Often I had to work so hard to get this money away from me, and now it's all so easily taken away from me. Oh, God! Forgive me!”

I remember how at the beginning of the year I set a goal to be more generous to others. Yes, there was progress, but it was small. And, as you can see, God helped me in this.

And that same evening I made a decision that I wanted to make a radical change in this area. Because, in fact, the more we give, the more we have. And the more we keep everything for ourselves, the more we get poorer. And it's not about money, it's about real joy.

A day has passed. And... my account was unlocked! I just jumped for joy and thanked God!

This is how God sometimes takes away certain things in our lives to open our eyes and bring us to adequacy.

The lessons are learned. Now I'm moving on, but not along the usual path, but along the path of change.