You’re watching events, classes, and shiny new offerings roll out, and you’re excited about each one. You’re also…jealous.

Because you can’t afford them and you could never take the time off to attend, so you just can’t get your hands on what you really want. Except…

When you say “I can’t afford that,” it’s absolutely true. Whether you have the money required to pay for an item or not doesn’t matter, because you’ve already stopped yourself from buying.

The same principle applies to items that cost $30 or $3,000 — if you say you can’t afford it, you’ve shut down the possibility of getting it.

If, however, you prioritize what it is you want — less caffeine-deprived Starbucks stops and a little more planning ahead; canceling subscriptions you never use; rallying your airline miles and rewards programs around a single goal — you’ll be surprised at what you can afford.

I recently found that I had accumulated over 60,000 airline miles without ever redeeming a single one. Hello, five-star trips to Pittsburgh and to New York City for free…

You’ll need a plan to pay for what you want. More importantly, you’ll need your own permission to buy it.

When you hear about something amazing and say “I can’t,” it usually has more to do with “How can I ever be away from my babies/my friends/my dogs/my lover for 72 hours!?” than it does with money.

It often has more to do with what you won’t ALLOW yourself to do than it does with any form of cash.

…like how you won’t let yourself take a bath when you’re tired because you have to empty the dishwasher instead, or how you’ve never left your kids alone with your husband because he won’t keep them alive exactly the way you would. (But alive is alive, even it doesn’t involve a perfectly-managed bedtime schedule, right?)

When you give yourself permission to dream — just to dance with the possibilities presented before you — you’ll find that money has less and less to do with the equation. Priorities come into play, as does permission.

But money? Once you’ve decided you’re going — you’re doing it — you’re taking the class or making the trip — the rest is just a detail. You’re freaking smart, and you’ll find a way to make it happen.

P.S.  10 ways to make space for what actually freaking matters.

Photo // my own, from adventures in India, because travel is what I really want. 😉