Money: Frustration, Fear, and the Feeling of Success

I am a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon’s podcast, How it is. This podcast explores very controversial topics that play a role in our daily lives–like money. In the season 2 premiere of How it is, various women of different careers discuss what money means to them. By listening to this podcast, it had sparked numerous thoughts within myself about money; meaning, what did I think about money? How does money make me feel? Do I earn what I deserve?

I grew up in not a wealthy household, but in a house where we simply always had what we needed. Money was never something I really thought about until I had gotten my first job, and when I went to college years later; truth be told, I’m still learning about the concept of money at 26. There were always two concepts of money my mom fought hard to make sure I understood:

-When shopping, do you need it? Or do you want it?

-Get your moneys worth.

Those are two concepts that I live by now! Not going to lie, maybe it’s made me a cheap person too, where I try not to spend money at all. Now I’ve became better with my money, I struggle with one particular thing–when I buy something for myself, a small thought goes through my mind of, “do I deserve it?”

Here’s what I keep reminding myself, I show up everyday and I follow through with my work to a T. Let me ask myself again, “Do I deserve to treat myself?”

Yes!

I need to take pride in what I earn. I try to not have money dictate my daily life too much. Money doesn’t make me feel powerful or anything like that–it has just made me more aware of myself. I look at having just enough money as having daily security. I want to wake up and know that I can put gas in my car, or buy products when I’m sick. I don’t want to know what it’s like live day by day guessing.

Now, in our society, it has been always a heated discussion about equal pay. So far, I personally didn’t find myself in a situation where I was fighting for equal pay. I’m saddened that though we are in 2018, these issues are still about. For those who suffer within this particular issue, keep fighting and know your worth. We can’t let people dictate who we are, and what we deserve. Only you know that.

I hope this post triggers different thoughts that you may have about money. What has it taught you? How does it make you feel? Let me know in the comments below!