After spending a difficult two months navigating the grief and emotional aftermath of his mother’s death, J.D., the voice behind the personal finance and lifestyle platform Get Rich Slowly, has announced a major shift in his personal and professional trajectory. In a candid update to his readers, J.D. shared that the heavy fog of bereavement has finally begun to lift, leaving him motivated to refocus on his own well-being and re-engage with productive pursuits. Following deep introspection and discussions with his partner, Kim, J.D. has declared that he is officially making 2023 the "Year of Me."
The decision marks a significant departure from his usual pattern of prioritizing external obligations, projects, and the needs of others above his own physical and mental health. For J.D., stepping back to reclaim agency over his life represents a necessary correction after years of placing himself far down his own list of priorities.
2023 — The Year of Me
The concept of intentionalizing time is not entirely new to J.D. More than a decade ago, he regularly established themes for his years and months—a habit he remembers as both fun and deeply fruitful. Whether he chose to devote a specific span of time to fitness, writing, or dating, assigning a focused theme consistently yielded positive results. However, like many personal routines, the practice eventually fell by the wayside.
Reflecting on how he reached a point of burnout and neglect, J.D. admitted that he has spent far too long putting himself second, third, or even ninth in his own life. Starting recently, his explicit aim is to place himself first for the next year or more.
Acknowledge the psychological hurdle of this transition, J.D. noted that prioritizing oneself often feels inherently selfish or wrong at first glance. Yet, he realized that allowing constant distractions and excuses to interfere with his health was unsustainable. For the foreseeable future, making his own well-being "job one" is the only path forward.
Crucially, J.D. emphasizes that this inward shift is not ultimately detrimental to the people around him. In fact, he acknowledges a truth he has long advised others to embrace: by taking care of oneself and putting personal needs first, an individual invariably becomes a better, more capable partner and contributor to others.
For the regular readers of Get Rich Slowly, J.D. reassures that the outward experience of the site will remain largely unaffected, though the internal motivation driving it is shifting. He is granting himself the psychological permission to put his own desires first for 2023, a move he believes will naturally generate richer fodder for future articles and finally bring closure to the site’s ongoing de-design project.
At the same time, J.D. is deliberately stepping away from rigid publishing schedules or production quotas. Moving forward, if he has something meaningful to say, he will publish it; if not, he will refuse to force content simply to fill space. This flexible approach was precisely how his latest update came to be: following a personal exercise from the book Designing Your Life and finding a brief window of free time before a scheduled phone call, he decided to share his thoughts organically.
The Courage to Be Disliked
The thematic groundwork for J.D.’s current introspective phase was heavily influenced by a recent road trip. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, J.D. and Kim drove to California to visit her brother’s family. To pass the hours on the long drive, the couple listened to the audiobook The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga.
The book, which explores the psychological worldview and principles of Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler, resonates deeply with themes of personal autonomy, interpersonal relationships, and breaking free from the expectations of others. Though the title can be provocative, J.D. noted that the work might more accurately be called The Courage to Be Happy, as it challenges readers to stop seeking external validation and take responsibility for their own emotional freedom.
While listening to the Socratic dialogue format of the audiobook during the drive presented initial comprehension challenges without immediate visual context, J.D. found the core insights profound enough to warrant revisiting the material in Kindle format. By skimming the text specifically for its standout takeaways, he aims to distill Adlerian wisdom and potentially share a comprehensive review or summary on Get Rich Slowly in the future.
A Values-Driven Life
To anchor his philosophy moving forward, J.D. highlighted a passage from Stephen R. Covey’s foundational book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which recently resurfaced through his Readwise highlights. The quote reads: “The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of a proactive person. Reactive people are driven by feelings, by circumstances, by conditions, by their environment. Proactive people are driven by values — carefully thought about, selected, and internalized values.”
For J.D., this excerpt strikes at the heart of why he feels compelled to institute his Year of Me. He recognizes that he had drifted into a reactive state, losing control over his daily impulses while letting his core values slip out of focus. To combat this, he has already taken concrete, practical steps to reassert control over his environment—such as uninstalling distracting applications like Reddit and Hearthstone from his iPad.
These adjustments are designed to clear away digital and mental clutter, allowing him to consciously put his chosen values back into practice. While his future posts may vary in length and style—ranging from short updates to conversational essays rather than long, heavily structured guides—the underlying mission remains anchored in personal authenticity. For J.D., navigating this transitional year means embracing flexibility, honoring his grief, and building a sustainable life driven firmly by intention rather than circumstance.
