Does Money affect your Health?
I’ve been fascinated by this ever since I first started hearing about having a ‘money mindset’ listening to podcasts by incredible thought leaders like Tony Robbins and Gabrielle Bernstein. I had no idea this was even a “thing”... you’re telling me that the way I *feel* about money can affect my health? MMMM… Yeeeeeah… sure.
I’d carry on with life,
Struggling with bills,
Feeling overwhelmed,
Feeling anything BUT a sense of Freedom in my life.
At around this point in my life the OVERWHELM was extremely high. I was working 80 hour weeks (plus) and I didn’t have any sense of “FREEDOM”. The reality was that I felt very trapped by the financial situation of my life at that point in time.
It seemed like I could never get ahead.
Once I started delving into the world of self love, personal development, taking charge of my own health - well my money-mindset became MORE of an issue. The lack of FREEDOM I felt when it came to my bank account was having a huge impact on my health. Once I became aware of it, I couldn’t shake it. What you focus on expands right? Suddenly I was painfully aware that the way my brain was processing thoughts about money was having a really negative impact on my holistic health. That insidious seed of stress, (that I *thought* I had managed) was popping up everywhere in my daily life.
I might have made changes to give myself food-freedom, work-freedom, fitness-freedom etc… but I was stuck in a money-mindset that had me locked into really negative thought patterns.
So how did I start making changes? It came from a place I had NEVER thought possible. Inside my own head.
Wild right?!?
Like one of those superhero movies, the answer was “inside me all along”
I committed to investing in myself, signing up for personal development and coaching. At the time it was suuuuuper stretchy-financially. But it was an investment that has paid for itself a thousand times over within 2 years of pushing that first “PAY NOW” button.
By doing the work, developing my self care practices and rituals, putting my self love at the top of my to-do list every day… it suddenly helped me see where these negative thoughts had come from. We’ve all got stories we are told right from a young age. Mine had taught me that money was something negative, that you had to work UNBELIEVABLY hard to get it, and that it didn’t come easily. Once I started exploring those thoughts, putting in the changes to start re-modelling different thoughts about money, getting familiar with my bank account (rather than digging my head in the sand), and delegating the areas I really didn’t NEED to be involved in for my accounts… the FREEDOM I felt started to expand exponentially.
So if you are feeling that throat-tightening feeling whenever someone mentions money, or bank accounts… dig into that emotion. Where is that coming from? Explore it and get familiar with it. Because I can tell you now, feeling that stress every day … it can have untold impact on your holistic health, even if you are taking care of every single other aspect of your health and lifestyle.
It’s a topic that is culturally and socially often not talked about - so I’m opening up the space to start easing into having that conversation. Because taking that first baby step to talk about it, well that is often half the battle.