It’s Not About the Money, It’s About How You Feel
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Have you ever thought about what your relationship with money looks like? Money is an inanimate thing and it is not inherently good or evil. Inanimate objects can’t talk to us about our day or give us advice on any problems we have, yet we can sometimes expect money to solve all of our problems. Don’t get me wrong, we all need money to live our lives, but somehow we’ve become a slave to money: working for it day in and day out and not really understanding, on a deep soul level, why we’re doing it. At a minimum, we do it to put food on the table, a roof over our family’s head and to have other important things we need. Throw in a few luxuries every now and then (home decor junkie over here!), and you’ve got yourself some pretty good reasons why you’ve got to make that cash. But have you ever stopped and wondered, “but WHY?”
The COVID-19 pandemic erupted quite a reckoning within me along with billions of other humans as to what in the world we are doing and why we are doing it. For me, I was pregnant with our first child and was told that if I contracted the virus at the time of delivery, they would take my brand new baby girl away from me for the first 14 days of her life. If my husband even had the slightest fever once we got to the hospital, they would turn him away and I would be on my own to bring our first child into the world. Granted, this was almost at the beginning of the pandemic when no one knew anything about anything and out of an abundance of caution pretty much told me to stay inside at all costs. We did what we had to do and we had an incredible seamless delivery all together, COVID free. But that time of living in pure fear didn’t leave us without some scars.
Thankfully, that jarring experience of isolation and fearfulness made us realize that time is precious and we don’t want to spend our time any way other than doing the things we were meant to do surrounded by the people we love. It made us question our purpose and if what we were doing to make money actually supported what we wanted our lives to be. It was quite a shift from the age-old, popular mindset of changing our lives around to serve a job. Rather, we were interested in what we were made to do and how we could have a relationship with money that supported that vision for our lives.
Maybe you’ve had a reckoning within yourself as well. Whether it be the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of a loved one, a breakup or divorce, or being let go from a job you were sure was THE job (*raises hand*). Whatever the situation may be, we can choose to reflect on how that event made us feel and what we’re going to do about that feeling. For me, it made me rethink my relationship with money and investigate what a healthy relationship with money looks like. That may sound crazy, but when I stopped and thought about it, money is what makes the world go round so I might as well stop ignoring that fact and figure out how to have my money support the life I want to live instead of living to work for a paycheck.
At the beginning of our relationship, my husband read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and dragged me along with him. This is where it all started. I was always really great at being scrappy and making money, however I wasn’t the best at saving it. I would set goals and make just enough money to pay for whatever I needed or wanted and that was it. This book and its corresponding workbook entirely changed my mindset on what it means to be successful and earn money. It made me question why I wanted to make money in the first place (besides surviving) and what it was I really wanted out of life. I had to make those decisions and set those life goals before even thinking about my specific money goals. Fast forward to the reckoning I had due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this book reignited my curiosity on what a healthy relationship with money looks like. The understandings I gained are:
Money is a tool.
Why I need money.
Why I want money.
Money is a tool.
This book made me realize that money isn’t the end all be all to life. Rather, it is a tool that is supposed to be used to live out my purpose that is within my heart. I am a steward of my blessings and those blessings are supposed to be used for my purpose that has been placed in my heart. Serving a job or title or person or lifestyle so that I can obtain the amount of money I think is sufficient isn’t the point of life. Rather, life is about serving and honoring my purpose first, and then the money will follow. So how do I do that? Go find the important things.
Why I need money.
Other than the obvious of doing what it takes to survive, I had to understand why I need money. I need money to do what it takes to honor and serve my unique purpose, but I don’t need money to feel good or safe. If I get “enough” I’ll have “enough” and be worry free is a false promise. Man, what a conviction! For me, that is extremely hard to authentically live out because I have always aligned the amount of money I have (or don’t) with the level of security I feel (or don’t.) Rather, I’ve had to change my mindset to see that I need it so I can do what it is I was created to do and whatever it is I am supposed to contribute to the world. Bottom line, I can’t put my trust, security and identity in money because it can wax or wane or be completely gone in a second. My trust, security and identity has to be placed in something constant, unchanging and true.
Why I want money.
Needs are important, but wants are too. I believe life was created not only to serve a unique purpose, but also to be thoroughly enjoyed! I had to figure out the desires of my heart and how that supports my life purpose (need help with that? click here!). Where my treasure is, is where my heart is so I want to make sure that I have those things aligned and that my treasures accurately reflect where my heart is. Ultimately, I want to be wealthy because being wealthy is about what I can give, not what I have. I want to live and give in a way that reflects my heart and life’s purpose.
A certain beauty emerges when we live our purpose. We come to an understanding about who we are, where we want to go and what we need to do to get there. Suddenly, money isn’t this yucky thing that we avoid talking about. Instead, we can get excited about making budgets and dreaming big. We can use the tool of money to show us the tangible steps we need to take to live our lives as they were meant to be lived: overflowing with purpose and bringing the desires of our heart to fruition.
So, now what? The biggest factor in achieving your goals is creating a foundation of simple routines that set you up for success each day. I’ve got something just for you to help make that happen! In my free Morning Routine Maker, I show you just how quick and easy creating a morning routine actually is. Click the button below to get instant access to the life changing magic that is the morning routine. Brace yourself, you just might become a morning (read: routine) person!
To make our dreams happen, we’ve got to feel good, right? Our mind, body and spirit are all connected and if our body is out of whack, our mind and spirit aren’t going to be in tip top shape either. Something that is an important part of my intentional lifestyle to feel at my best is having a protein packed smoothie for breakfast. My Sunrise Smoothies are what I drink for breakfast every single day to pack in the nutrients needed for crushing my life & biz goals. Skipping breakfast because mornings are too chaotic to even think about eating something? Skipping breakfast because eating in the morning makes you feel nauseous? Skipping breakfast because you’re trying to lose weight? All of those are myths that can leave you feeling hangry and how can a hangry person achieve their goals? Let me show you the magic that are the Sunrise Smoothies and I bet all of those skipping breakfast excuses will fade away and your achievement will skyrocket.
How well do you know yourself? Do you know what really sets your soul on fire? Maybe you’ve taken a deep dive into getting to know yourself before but it’s been awhile. In the Happiness Helper, you’ll go through a quick and easy exercise to really dig into some parts of you that you may not have stopped to think about before. Once you’ve explored these areas of your likes and dislikes, you’ll experience clarity and may even be surprised at some of the things that make your wheels turn. Don’t live inside a tightly structured box of a narrative that you or someone else has placed on you anymore! Prepare yourself to feel empowered to go after the kind of life that YOU want to live; not a life that someone told you that you were destined to. Get ready to take a deep sigh of relief!
Putting small biz owner’s and serial entrepreneur’s plan into action with step-by-step breakdowns of long-term and short-term goals so you can obtain your version of success every day, month, quarter and year!