$pent Millennial

Dear Reader,

I hate this part right here.

I really do.

It’s easy to feel that way when things aren’t going our way—or when life feels like a relentless pile-on, never quite letting up. I’ve been in a bit of that space lately.

More keeps landing on my plate without much, if anything, being taken off. And I don’t think I’m alone. We live in a world that keeps demanding more, faster—while offering the same (or less) in return.

Workloads, emails, and deadlines stack up until you feel like you’re drowning, unable to come up for air.

Grocery prices keep rising while the quality gets worse. (I’m looking at you, lettuce and broccoli.)

And then there’s the ever-shifting goalpost of financial security: save this much, invest that much, keep climbing just to reach a “next level” that always seems out of reach.

If I sound like a broken record in my recent posts—“I’m tired,” “Everything is so expensive,” “I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere”—well, it’s because I have been feeling it lately. I am spent. 

The progress I do make feels… boring. Necessary, responsible, but boring. 

Like the brake job my car needs. I have the cash sitting in a maintenance account, ready to cover it. No debt, no stress. That’s a win. But it also means draining a fund I was slowly building toward replacing this car someday—and have you seen the starting prices of used cars lately? 

Even the win feels like a step backwards. 

Here’s the tension I sit with: I’m grateful. I know having money saved to cover the boring stuff is a privilege many people don’t have right now. At the same time, it can still feel discouraging. Will I ever really get to that next level?

The other morning, while staring down my overflowing inbox, I caught myself thinking: this is just the hard part. The unglamorous grind. The patience, the dedication, the consistency. I’m doing it now so that future me can breathe easier.

And honestly? That’s the game. Or at least my strategy. And I know it. 

“Do the hard part first, so that it gets easier.” 

That is what I preach. It is the reminder I give myself every day as I muddle through. 

And I don’t just preach it. I have been living it. Past me set me up for some of that ease. Through debt payoff and savings building, I have been able to get to a place where the brake job doesn’t throw me into panic mode. 

That’s the quiet luxury of boring financial stability—the kind that rarely makes headlines but quietly changes everything. I got here by doing the hard part – early and often. 

I guess I am just realizing that I am not done doing the hard part. The work, dedication and consistency put in have gotten me here. Even if it here is still hard, it is also growth. 

So, for now at least, I will just have to keep putting in the hard – in hopes of reaping more ease later. 

And yes, sometimes I hate this part right here. But when I zoom out, I see that this part is exactly what moves me forward. Slowly, unsexy, often discouragingly—but steadily.

If you’re in that space too—tired, discouraged, trudging through the boring parts—I see you. You’re not alone. Future-you will thank you, even if present-you feels like screaming into a pillow. (Go ahead, do it.)

As always, thank you for joining me for coffee and my thoughts, as we muddle through the hard parts together.

Until next week—take care,

Everett