After spending two months navigating the profound grief of losing his mother, J.D., the founder of the personal finance community Get Rich Slowly, has announced a major personal shift for the year ahead. In a candid update to his readers, he revealed that the emotional fog surrounding the tragedy has finally begun to lift, leaving him motivated to refocus on his own well-being. Following deep introspection alongside his partner, Kim, J.D. has officially declared 2023 to be "The Year of Me," a deliberate period designed to prioritize his physical and mental health above all else.
The decision marks a significant departure from years of putting his own needs secondary to external demands, work, and distractions. For a creator who has spent decades helping others navigate their financial and personal lives, this upcoming period represents a return to foundational principles of self-care, value-driven living, and intentional boundary-setting.
2023 — The Year of Me
More than a decade ago, J.D. established a popular personal habit of assigning overarching themes to his years and months. Whether dedicating a span of time to fitness, writing, or dating, these seasonal focuses consistently yielded positive, fruitful results. However, as the demands of life accumulated, this habit eventually fell by the wayside, and J.D. found himself sliding down his own priority list—often placing his own needs second, third, or even ninth behind everything else.
Recognizing that he has spent too long making excuses and allowing distractions to interfere with his physical and mental health, J.D. has decided to take a definitive stand. Beginning immediately, his aim is to put himself first for the foreseeable future. He acknowledges that this shift initially feels unnatural, bordering on selfish or wrong. Yet, he recognizes the fundamental truth underlying the philosophy: by prioritizing his own well-being, he will ultimately become a better person and a more effective resource for others, including his dedicated readership.
For the regular audience of Get Rich Slowly, J.D. reassures readers that the external experience of the site will remain largely unchanged. The transformation is primarily internal. He is granting himself formal permission to place his personal needs and desires ahead of outside expectations for 2023. While he anticipates that this renewed clarity will naturally generate fresh fodder for articles and finally lead to the long-awaited completion of the site’s ongoing de-design, he is intentionally releasing himself from any rigid publishing or production schedules.
Moving forward, he intends to write only when he has something meaningful to say, eschewing forced output in favor of authentic, conversational updates. This new approach reflects a broader commitment to living deliberately rather than reacting constantly to external pressures.
The Courage to Be Disliked
The philosophical groundwork for J.D.’s new mindset was 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 Courage to Be Disliked by authors Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. The book, which J.D. notes might more accurately be titled The Courage to Be Happy, explores the psychological worldview of the influential Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler.
The audiobook introduced the couple to a wealth of psychological wisdom and challenging perspectives, prompting lively discussions along the highway. While many of the book’s core concepts initially sounded counterintuitive without deeper explanation, the insights resonated deeply with J.D. as he evaluated his own life trajectory. So impactful was the listening experience that he plans to revisit the material in a digital Kindle format, skimming through the text to extract the most potent lessons from its Socratic dialogue structure. He has also hinted that a comprehensive review or summary of the book may eventually find its way onto Get Rich Slowly.
The exploration of Adlerian psychology aligns seamlessly with J.D.’s current desire to shed the people-pleasing habits and constant distractions that have kept him from focusing on his core well-being. By embracing the principles found within the text, he is learning to release the fear of disapproval and direct his energy toward authentic personal growth.
A Values-Driven Life
To anchor his new direction, J.D. highlighted a passage that recently resurfaced through his Readwise highlights—a quote from Stephen R. Covey’s seminal work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:
"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."
Reflecting on Covey’s words, J.D. realized that a primary driver behind his current need for a reset was a temporary loss of impulse control coupled with a drift away from his core values. Recognizing this misalignment, he has already begun taking concrete steps to flip the script and rein in his daily impulses. Practical measures have included uninstalling addictive applications like Reddit and Hearthstone from his iPad, clearing away digital clutter to create mental space for his core values to take root once again.
While this introspection marks a shift in how J.D. approaches his daily routine and content creation, he remains deeply committed to his audience. The immediate future of Get Rich Slowly will feature shorter, more conversational reflections rather than exhaustive guides, mirroring the natural rhythm of his ongoing personal evolution. By committing to his own health and values in 2023, J.D. is laying the groundwork for a more grounded, authentic chapter ahead.
