Why Financial Well-Being Starts With Self-Care

Dec 11, 2018

I didn’t expect it to happen like this . . . but it was (and still is) a pivotal time in my finances.

Money was SUPPOSED to come to me through hard work, persistence, and hustle.

My coaching business was about a year-and-a-half old, and I was (and still am) coaching others on their money mindset and creating a healthy financial foundation that would (will) serve them for the rest of their lives (or at least this lifetime.) Money mindset is a set of beliefs and thoughts that shape your habits around money.

My personal experience, my training, my education, and my research all led me to this path. Yet, I was only a few steps ahead of the people who so courageously and willingly look at their money mindset and choose me as a guide through it–and I was only a few steps ahead of my clients on some level.

Until last summer, when I encountered a quantum leap around my finances . . . and it all started with a crack on my windshield.

A Crack in the Windshield

When I decided to switch from being an employee to starting my own business, my husband and I agreed that we would live minimally for a few years so we could make sure we had enough to cover our necessary expenses each month.

I’d recently paid off my truck (a 10-year-old Ford Expedition that I affectionately named “Rosie”) and was happy to have the freedom of no monthly car payment.

Yes, she was old in car years. Yes, she needed some love at times in the form of repairs–but as my mom would say, “she got me from A to B,” and she was mine.

She also had a “tattoo,” a crack that went across the whole bottom section of the windshield. It started out as a small chip and ended up going from one end to another. Not really in the line of sight and not something I wanted to shell out $300 bucks for. I drove Rosie like that for about a year and a half.

Until one day, I looked at that crack as I sat in the driver’s seat and said it was time. Time to replace the windshield. I took her in and when I drove out of there, I instantly felt strongly like a part of me was somehow taken care of–well taken care of–and I liked the way that felt.

I went on that week to get my nails done and then decided soon after that it was time to create a time just for me throughout my day . . . every day. It may have been a minute, 10 minutes, an hour–the quantity of time didn’t matter–it was the quality of that time.

The Click

And as that was happening, all of sudden my income started to increase and increase. I called it “The Click,” because it was at this same time my confidence around my work ballooned, at a deep level, and the feeling that I truly could be of benefit to people and unlock their freedom around their money had become very self-evident to me.

It CLICKED.

And I believe it started with me taking care of myself. As I met my needs, more was given to me to support those needs–putting me first. Of course, it makes sense.

If I put myself last and took care of everyone else first, what would that be saying to my psyche?

How would I expect my self-worth to ever increase under those circumstances?

This is not a zero-sum game. Just because you’re giving to yourself doesn’t mean that you take away from someone else: your kids, your family, your husband, your wife, your mom, your dad.

Self-care for you creates self-worth, which in turn creates more money–because how you FEEL about yourself creates an ACTION which creates a RESULT.

Feel good about yourself and good things will come to you, finances included.

Until next time, much love and abundance to you in all its forms.