A wise man once told me that in order to keep from worrying about something, you should imagine the worst that could happen and then plan for it. That way, no matter what actually does occur, you will be ready, thus lessening your worry. Wise words indeed.
I tend to follow this philosophy with a lot of things in my life, especially the big events. Like the time when we bought our first house. We purchased it a few months before we were married so my maiden name went on the lease. For some reason it wasn’t the 30 year house payments we had committed to that had me stressed, it was the fact that we weren’t married yet. I was worried about what would take place should, heaven forbid, something happen to the CPA before we were legally bound. I even had nightmares about the scenario because at the time, it was my worst fear. As awful as it would have been to be left single again, it would have been compounded by the fact that I had this huge mortgage that I couldn’t afford on my own. So we did the only thing we knew to do – we changed his life insurance policy to give me enough to cover the house. I immediately felt better.
I tell you this to try to explain how my mind works. Therefore, it should be no surprise that when we found out that we were pregnant, one of the first things I wanted to do was to plan for the worst. What would happen if the CPA was not around to help me raise this child? What would happen if we lost our house or one or both of our jobs?
Over the past few months we have been addressing these concerns by changing life policies and looking at our budget and our financial options. During this process, the thought suddenly occurred to me, “what if something happened to me?” It’s one thing if it were just the two of us. The CPA makes twice what I do so it would be challenging for him, but he would be okay financially. But with a little one to take care of too? No way.
And even though child birthing methods have come a long way, I’ve read enough stories (I’m thinking specifically of Matt Logelin and his beautiful wife Liz) to know that there are no guarantees in life. Which is why this week I filled out the paperwork for my own life insurance policy. The thought of not being here to help raise our child is heartbreaking enough, the thought of leaving my husband alone to handle it while being financially strapped is unbearable.
So I’ll do what I can to make sure that we’ve prepared for the worst. Some might think I’m crazy or being overly pessimistic, but I like to think that I’m just being prepared. I’m praying that we never need the policy of course, but it’s nice to know that it’s there just in case. Besides, it makes me feel better and it makes me worry less, which is the whole point.
What about you – what would you do to prepare for the worst? Do you think about things like this or do you prefer not to?
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