Okay, "heat wave" might be a tad histrionic, but 75 degrees at 10PM is the hottest it's been since I started this challenge, and it saps my will to be clever, so there.

What saps your will to save?  Does it rise to the level of things like a family member falling deathly ill or your home being destroyed by some calamity, or does it take less than that?  As someone who can have his motivation drained by the heat before it even reaches 80, I think I can understand someone wanting to give up on this challenge for much less serious reasons than the examples I gave.  And if you have suffered something as terrible as either of those, may the gods give you the strength to persevere in the days ahead, whether you choose to continue saving or not.

But for those of us whose challenges are less than completely life-altering, but serious enough to make us throw up our hands and give up on this silly savings thing, it's time to take a few cleansing breaths and reflect upon why we embarked on this journey in the first place.  For me, it seems almost preposterous to think about that fireplace insert I'd like for my home now that summer is nearly upon me.  But if I look at the amount my family paid for oil last year, and consider the amount of blood which is shed and destruction wrought for the so-called black gold, it's easier to find that motivation once more.

If you swore any oaths to bind you to this challenge, remember them in your moments of weakness.  Find strength in that binding, and keep on saving.  Oaths or no, if you're feeling uncertain about continued saving, this could be a time to revisualize your goals, reaffirm through ritual, or call upon the deities or other spirits of your choice to help you see this through.

Heat waves may sap us of our short-term, physical strength, but they seldom slow the movement of the tectonic plates.  This savings challenge is tied to the power of the Earth itself, to that movement which is so slow as to be barely perceptible and so inexorable that no force of man can stop it.  Be the plate, not the wave.

If you're wondering about why I haven't posted of late, I do apologize!  Posting weekly about my saving sometimes proves more difficult than that saving itself, although I hope these posts are motivational in some way.  In the interest of completeness I did post thoughts on money and distance for week twenty-one and a brief reflection on my savings thus far for week twenty-two.  I shall endeavor to be more timely going forward.

My week twenty-three savings:  $276, 8% ($23) of which I saved this week.