Months after experiencing the profound loss of his mother, J.D., the creator and voice behind the personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, has announced that he is finally emerging from the fog of grief. In a candid update to his readers, he revealed a renewed motivation to pursue productive endeavors, signaling a major personal pivot centered on self-care and mental health.
Reflecting on a difficult period of soul-searching alongside his partner, Kim, J.D. came to a stark realization: above all else, he needed to make the coming year entirely about his own well-being. This realization has birthed a new personal mandate for the digital publisher—designating 2023 as the "Year of Me."
For longtime followers of Get Rich Slowly, the concept of assigning a theme to a span of time is a familiar one. More than a decade ago, J.D. routinely established overarching themes for his months and years, a practice he found both fun and remarkably fruitful. Whether he was dedicating a specific stretch of time to physical fitness, writing, or dating, these focused seasons consistently yielded positive results. However, as the demands of life accumulated, this constructive habit eventually fell by the wayside, leading to a long stretch where he routinely placed himself second, third, or ninth on his own priority list.
That dynamic, he says, is officially over. Starting immediately, his stated aim is to prioritize his own needs for the foreseeable future. Admitting that the shift feels initially uncomfortable—conceding that it triggers lingering feelings of selfishness and self-doubt—he emphasizes that putting his own mental and physical health first is a necessary correction. For too long, he allowed external distractions and excuses to interfere with his well-being, but he has resolved to stop making concessions. In his own words, J.D. is stepping up as job one, effectively kicking off what he jokingly terms the age of selfishness.
J.D. is quick to reassure his audience that this inward-focused strategy is ultimately beneficial to those around him, including his readership. Drawing on a philosophy he frequently recommends to others, he notes that by taking care of oneself, a person naturally becomes better equipped to support others. While recognizing this truth intellectually for years, he acknowledges that translating it into active behavior had proven elusive until now.
For readers of Get Rich Slowly, the day-to-day impact of this personal evolution is expected to be minimal. The transformation is primarily internal, driven by a conscious decision to give himself permission to elevate his personal needs. Ironically, J.D. suspects that this renewed focus will likely generate richer material for future articles on the site, while finally clearing the path for the completion of a long-awaited site redesign.
At the same time, J.D. is deliberately breaking away from rigid publishing and production schedules. Under the banner of his Year of Me, he intends to write purely when inspiration strikes rather than forcing content simply to meet a quota. The personal update itself came about organically, sparked by a quiet window of free time following a life-planning exercise from the book Designing Your Life and a scheduled call with a friend.
The Courage to Be Disliked
This shift toward personal autonomy was further reinforced during a Thanksgiving road trip to California with Kim and her family. To pass the hours on the road, the couple listened to the audiobook The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. The book explores the psychological worldview of Alfred Adler, a perspective J.D. found so impactful that he humorously suggested it ought to be retitled The Courage to Be Happy.
Filled with dense, counterintuitive insights delivered through a Socratic dialogue format, the book left a lasting impression. Although some of the core philosophical statements required deeper context to fully grasp, J.D. found the underlying wisdom compelling enough that he plans to revisit the material digitally, skimming through the conversational structure to isolate key passages. He has also hinted at the possibility of publishing a comprehensive review and summary of the book on Get Rich Slowly at a later date.
A Values-Driven Life
The philosophical groundwork of J.D.’s current mindset was further highlighted by a resurfaced quote from Stephen R. Covey’s foundational work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Reflecting on a highlighted passage from his digital reading archive, J.D. zeroed in on Covey’s distinction between proactive and reactive individuals: proactive people are driven by carefully selected and internalized values, whereas reactive individuals are driven by fleeting feelings, environmental conditions, and external circumstances.
Recognizing that he had somehow lost control of his impulses while letting his core values slip into the background, J.D. views his Year of Me as a mechanism to flip the script. He has already taken preliminary steps to curb reactionary behavior, such as removing distracting applications like Reddit and Hearthstone from his iPad, allowing him to refocus his energy on living out his core values.
While this introspection marks a departure from traditional, structured blogging, J.D. remains committed to the platform and his audience. Whether future posts arrive as brief, conversational dispatches or longer, focused essays, the upcoming content will reflect a writer who is deliberately realigning his life from the inside out.
