Worrying About Money

I worry about money a lot, but rightfully so. I don’t have much of it. However, I’m trying to take steps to address my worry so that I can have a little bit of clinical separation. I tend to get flooded out easily with my own finances, while I would happily work all day on someone else’s. It’s simple; I don’t have any emotional connection to other people’s money so I can be far less judgmental. I feel the same way about cleaning other people’s houses- I don’t have any emotional attachment to how the house got messy in the first place, so I can process it quicker.

Suze Orman advocates that your financial situation is dictated by the way you look at it, and I agree. But if you’re one of those people like me who get very anxious when looking at balance sheets, it helps to separate yourself from your emotions so that you can see your financial issues with clarity, and hopefully have enough courage to keep going. The end product is the relief of knowing where you are. Do you ever get that way? The stress of money causes you to skip looking at your balance because you know whatever’s in there is probably scary? I have enough life experience to tell you that knowing you have nothing and need to build your finances is much better than just wandering around in a flood of emotion that may or may not have anything to do with reality. Worry accrues so much faster than interest, doesn’t it?

Releasing the worry of not knowing where you are financially will allow you to build a relationship with your money. Do it, especially if you haven’t before. I bless my bank account that Dana and I will always have enough, that our needs will be met, and that someday, somehow, black will never become red again.

The blessings are hope, to build Dana and me into the people we want to become as our own financial stewards. I know where my priorities lie. I want to be in a position to be a philanthropist, because there are so many causes and too little money going toward them. I feel particularly strong about giving back to organizations that protect gay youth from violence. It is a goal to be able to think about blessing other people with money instead of worrying about my own.

Thinking about my financial dreams is free courage for whatever I want to do with my money. I hope it works the same way for you. That’s the thing about blessing your bank account. It frees you up to look for blessings from wherever they appear. Sometimes money is hell. Know that you are not alone, and it won’t always be this bad. You know. You saw it.