If you follow me on social media, part of my story will be a bit repetitive, but stick with me, and I’ll take you on the journey of how I got from my old money story to my new money story.
What is a money story, anyway? It’s simply the story we tell ourselves about our financial security in this world. But how does that story come to develop? We certainly don’t come into this world with it. Sadly, most times, our story isn’t even really our own. Our inner voice, about many things, not just money, often gets developed from society and generational beliefs that we handed down to us. Our stories are built on our beliefs; so, if we adopt others’ stories as our own, that often leads to limiting beliefs.
Last month, I covered limiting beliefs, and our money story relates to that too, so you might want to check out that post HERE.
I mean, hey, I’m not trying to be negative, maybe you were raised in a home where you were told that the sky was the limit. Maybe limiting beliefs and generational trauma were minimal for you. If so, I’m thrilled! Please, make sure you stay humble, but pay it forward, and send that message to as many folks as you can get to listen. But honestly, I think that there are far more of us who have adopted limiting beliefs that have led to a negative money story. So, let’s look at how this happens and how we can change it.
Things were very different when my grandmother was young; during the Great Depression, people found creative ways to make it, including a minimal mindset, something we can greatly benefit from. My grandparents raised 10 children. While not all were born during The Great Depression era, the years after that – the New Deal/Reform era, weren’t easy for people, either. It takes a long time to recover after a struggle (remember, financial struggle is a very real form of trauma). When my mother was born in 1957, my grandparents still didn’t have an indoor toilet, which should tell you what their financial circumstances were like.
My mother had me when she was 19, and after leaving her abusive marriage 5 years later, we lived with my grandparents until she could get on housing assistance. We lived on “welfare” until I turned 18. I never went hungry or lacked clothes, but I saw her worry about money until the day she died.
Neither my mother nor my grandmother believed they would ever live in a place of financial security, so they never did. I remember hearing, “that’s just how it is” about money and many other things. And for most of my life, I too subscribed to that belief.
I can share a few examples of how that played out in my own life. I used to fall asleep some nights wondering if our car would be repossessed because we had missed another payment, but that was just how it was. I also had myself convinced that with our low income, there was no way we could afford healthy food. It had been the same for my mom and gramma, and in my mind, I was happy to be a simple woman like they had both been. You can imagine that if I had so easily accepted poor nutrition, I certainly couldn’t believe my wife and I would ever be able to afford a house of our own.
Since we met, my wife knew that owning a home where we are in charge of the energy we allow in, as well as the noise level, was something she needed for her mental health. Yet, here I was, stuck in the mindset that it was not possible. It took a long time for me to catch up to her and realize that I needed that just as badly as she did, and it was possible. She was gentle and patient as I caught up to her and grew out of my old mindset and into my new one.
I can’t tell you how or when my mindset changed, but only that it started with a choice to believe it was possible. The notion that my value is tied to my labor was born of the damaging Christian work ethic and capitalism which suggests we are only worthy if we are willing to work ourselves to the point of losing our own joy for living. These are antiquated values.
Today, we are living in a new era where more of us see that security can come from adopting a more minimal mindset and that, yes, it is possible to support you family by doing the things you’re passionate about. Now, my money story is this: The universe has my back. I have always had everything I truly needed to make it to today, so why would that change now? I see myself with a thriving career as an author. My family’s income allows us to have a safe car and a quiet home (with a couple of rocking chairs on the porch and lots of birdfeeders). We have enough money to make the basement into a cat room, get my wife all the plants her little green heart desires, and travel. I’ll start there, but I won’t stop there….I’m planting seeds to manifest things for an even greater purpose, dreaming of ways I can support my community.
In our world, it can be a challenge to believe financial security is possible, but it starts with us. We have to change our beliefs, be willing to accept nothing other than our wildest dreams.
~ Peace and Love, Tracey
©Tracey Love, 2023. All rights reserved.
Comments