You did what you had to do

𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞...

I did what I needed to do.
To get where I wanted to be.

I want to talk for a second to my fellow OTs carrying the weight of student loan debt. It can be easy to sit and replay every little decision leading up to where we are now. I personally have done this. Maybe I should’ve gone to school in-state. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone to brunch with my classmates that one time. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone out of state for fieldwork. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦…

I had a very specific goal in mind for what I wanted to do with my life and who I wanted to be, and I took the necessary steps to get there. Yes, it resulted in me having student loan debt. Do I wish I would’ve made some slightly different steps along the way? Sure 😅 But when I look back on everything I did, I know I did what I needed to do, to get where I wanted to be.

Now, repeat after me again ➡️ 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼. 𝗧𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲.

Whether that means aggressively paying your debt or just paying the minimum because that’s all you can do. Whether it’s saving your money or throwing it all at debt. I just want to say there is no right or wrong way to do any of this, despite what anyone says because the “right” way is whatever is best for you, and your family.

We have to be careful not to let the financial world, specifically the debt-free community, make us unintentionally feel less than. Our student loan debt does not define us and how you address it is truly your business.

So this is just my gentle reminder + piece of advice (after a 2 day long #MoneyMonday chat) that if you’re stressing, worrying, or beating up yourself about any of this...don’t. Because you did what you needed to do. To get where you wanted to be 🤍

𝑰’𝒎 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑫𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒂 🙏🏾🤗❤️ 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆!