But I don’t like the word negative. I want to get more specific. It’s not just this general lump of negativity. What comes up for you? Do you feel angry that you need to deal with this part of life? Do you feel anxious? Do you feel sad? Why?
It’s not like the emotions are going to go away, but they get smaller, they can diminish. The biggest thing is that you know how to deal with them.
I’ll give you an example. I had a client who decided early on she was going to be financially independent. She had invested in real estate and had made a lot of money. But every time she went to dinner with her friends, she felt a lot of guilt and anxiety. Her approach was to just ignore her emotions and get on with it, but it wasn’t working for her. She learned to stop, check in with her emotions, and look deeper to why she was feeling this way: She felt that, because she was doing well financially, she should pay for everyone. But by stopping, taking a moment to check her emotions, she was able to understand her reactions and accept them, and understanding them meant she could create better practices around them, and it led to less impulsive, better decision making.
What does a healthy relationship with money look like?
It’s different for everyone. Each person needs to define what a healthy relationship looks like for them. What phase of life are you in? What are your goals, what are your priorities, what are your values?
I can go back to those traditional money books and they’ll say you need x amount of money in the bank, in emergency savings, this much invested. That’s all fine and good, but we all have different priorities and values, and we’re all at different places.
I can ask those same questions six months in, a year later, two years later. We’re always going to need to adjust our definition because things happen. So I think it’s good to check in every year.
Do you find that building a healthy relationship with money is a matter of lots of little steps, or a radical shift in our daily habits?
I always say you need to do this work in baby steps because again, we’re not taught this growing up, we’re learning this as adults. One step at a time. And we need to show ourselves compassion and forgiveness, and be gentle with ourselves.
What are some baby steps we can all take, no matter where we are in our money journey?
Well number one, I want to invite everyone to do a body check-in. Ask yourself what emotions come up in different financial situations, like when you’re in line at the grocery store, or when you’re about to make a big purchase. They’re not bad, they’re not wrong, we all have them. What memories come up with that? Start to gather information and data about your stories, patterns, and money beliefs. Understanding your emotional response and the way you think about money is the first step to changing your habits.
