To say that I’ve never truly experienced 100% financial health is a truly sad thing to reflect on. My parents divorced when I was 7 amidst bankruptcy, bitterness, and the anger that comes from ending a marriage.
The story goes that my mom ended up with me, a white Toyota Corolla (I remember this car) and $2 that she had to take out of my piggy bank so that she could apply for a job. I’ve long associated money with struggle, stress, and anxiety because we never had enough.
Money is a Tool
I began my personal finance blogging journey because I was tired of the results that I was getting with money. Too much debt, way too much stress, and being completely baffled by why “other” people were able to manage their money but I was not.
Along the way I discovered that financial health begins with understanding the psychology of why you do what you do with your money. I also learned that money is a tool that can be handled with finesse or in an unwieldy fashion that could wreck havoc on whatever you’re working on.
I am not at the end of my financial journey but I am a lot closer than when I began. I understand now that I absorbed lessons about money that my mom never intended and those lessons were reflected in my financial behaviors for years to come.
I learned that everyone else came before myself. My mother would prioritize everyone else and she came last. I learned that struggle is connected with money.
But, I also learned some great lessons about money management from my mom such as: preparing for winter, paying bills ahead of time (sometimes months at a time), the value of hard work, and the importance of integrity.
What I didn’t understand was that it’s important to remember what you’re telling yourself about the money coming into your life. Your relationship with money isn’t just about what you earn but what you believe is possible to attract to yourself.
What Financial Health Means to Me
The ability to recognize the amazing abundance of resources, tools, and options there are to live a wonderful life without debt and embracing habits that emphasize abundance versus lack.
I’ve learned how to grow my own garden, secondhand shop like a rock star, and connect with free tools and resources that help me redirect my earned income towards paying off debt, investing for retirement, and planning for that future vacation abroad.
This ability to recognize the amazing resources around me was a learned process and my goal is to reach out to others who are struggling with money and support them as they work through their “why.”
I’ve learned that climbing out of the financial muck that I found myself in is a very mental process. If I don’t believe it’s possible to leave a financially healthy life then who will? As a result of this journey to financial health I am asserting myself more, asking for more, and believing that I deserve a healthy financial life.
That is perhaps the most empowering part of my financial journey. I now understand that I must constantly advocate for my best interests financially. Wether it is: asking for a raise, saying “no” to myself when I want to make an impulsive purchase, or resisting the urge to sleep in when I should work more.
Financial Health is knowing that I’ve deserve better than what I’ve accepted before for myself and walking on the road less traveled. The path that other people don’t understand. So, I will continue to work towards debt freedom. The hardest part I’ve already conquered (mindset) now it’s time to get this done.
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I am absolutely agree with you, when I understood I needed a budget I had a little debt so I started to be more focused on my spending habits, now I am lot different and debt free but during the process I’ve learned a lot of things:D
My mindset has been the hardest thing to get a handle on. For people who are trying to change their financial lives I think that getting their mindset right is the #1 task and that task can take a long time to do because you have to unlearn and relearn habits/beliefs/systems.