Squirrel in a Nuthouse

There used to be a time in the not so distant past that I believed I did not have any true passions. No subject or hobby cropped up to claim the reason for my existence, and I felt hollow, or somehow cheated. I tried many things, too. I tried horseback riding, but that got to be too expensive. I tried gardening, and at the rate I was killing green life, that got expensive, too. I also tried scrap booking, but I got bored. It was too tedious. I suppose for a while, watching television was on the verge of becoming a serious hobby, as well as surfing the Internet, but while they temporarily filled a void, they didn’t fulfill a passion.

I do, however, have some absurd obsession with real estate. I love houses. I am addicted to HGTV, especially the shows “Buy Me” and “House Hunters.” I have to admit that “Buy Me” is a regularly Tivo-ed show in our house, while “House Hunters” is a filler. I love looking at houses and cruising www.realtor.com like some kind of wanderlust land-shark, trying to guess how much they have risen in value, researching neighborhoods, and trying to figure out what is going on in the local economy that is causing specific sale trends in specific cities. I thought once upon a time that real estate was my passion, so I got my real estate agent license. It didn’t take long for me to discover my passion for real estate did not include the buying/selling process. Most real estate agents have bought into their own hype, and truly believe their reputation as being on the same rung as car salesmen has no merit. Having been on the inside, trust me, the reputation is well earned! It only takes one foul agent to sour a great deal.

So the real estate agent idea didn’t go as planned. Perhaps it would have if more folks in the business possessed a decent amount of integrity, but the dirtiness goes all the way up the chain, I’m afraid. Maybe someday I’ll get over my bitterness (sniff).

My other truly strange obsession is saving money and making money. I am definitely not a Spender. In fact, I am still trying to balance my spending habits and my saving habits so that I don’t turn into one of those people who is a mega-millionaire and then keels over from a heart attack before ever getting to enjoy their millions. This irked me for a long time. Most people have hobbies like video games and collecting things, or they reward themselves by getting a pedicure or massage. Me? My favorite reward is putting $50 into my savings account. If given the choice between buying a $30 sweater or putting that money in the bank, there would be no contest. Bet on me choosing to put that money in the bank and you will win every time. Fortunately, Stefan respects my very strange obsession and does not make fun of it. In fact, we have worked together for a good amount of time to set up our accounts so that both of our needs are met: we get to save a certain amount, and we get to spend a certain amount. This prevents me from becoming too miserly and dragging Stefan down into my miserable little hole, and it “forces” me to enjoy our earnings, which in turn enforces the idea that our money is working pretty darn hard at providing us with a very comfortable lifestyle.

I do know a few other truths about myself that have helped guide me on my quest to find my true passion. One of them is that I like to help people (hence the draw to help folks achieve the American Dream of home-ownership). I still have that draw, and it still pulls me on a string when I catch wind of someone who is in the home-buying or home-selling market.

The other truth is that I am somewhat of a natural born leader, but not a spotlight whore. I do like attention, but I don’t need to be the center of it for me to feel fulfilled. My natural born leadershipness is tempered by my desire to help others, thus making me a great behind-the-scenes person – someone who can calm others during times of crisis, yet can also step into the spotlight when necessary. I am the great woman behind every great man.

The leadership quality is what calls me to go out and research the heck out of things. I am never satisfied with the level of knowledge that I hold. With the advent of the Internet, my desire to research has grown to unwieldy levels. I am constantly reading, reading, and reading, looking to find that one nugget of information I didn’t have before. It is the one way I can help myself. The more educated I am, the better my choices will become.

Now all of the above has combined recently to reveal my true passion. Are you ready for this revelation? I believe I am an Economics junkie. The second definition by the American Heritage Dictionary seems to describe my interest pretty well: “Economic matters, especially relevant financial considerations.”

Now I wish I had paid more attention in Economics class in high school! Too bad most schools only devote one semester to it.

I never, ever pegged myself as having an interest in Economics. I always considered myself more “artsy” than that, and I always had a healthy fear of numbers, because they were too logical and cold, too calculating (pardon the pun – I couldn’t resist). But the study of the economy around us encompasses much more than the study of numbers or stock trades. I can focus my lens to cover a broad spectrum of the country and discuss the impact of the rising cost of health care, or I can narrow my focus to look in and see what might be the underlying cause(s) of a trendy issue. The answer very often is not what it appears to be on the glossy surface. There is so much going on underneath the covers that two seemingly unrelated events might actually be knotted together.

Anyhow, I’m really hot on this trail. I started waking up to all this about a year ago, and the more I read, the more fascinated I become. Like a squirrel in a nuthouse, I am on information overload. I’m not sure yet how all this will level out, or what direction I may ultimately take, but I sure am enjoying the ride. And I am sure I will be posting more about my findings as I go along, which may bore some of you, but fascinate others. My apologies to those who will get bored, and to those who share my sentiments, please feel free to comment and discuss!