Real talk: Growing up, my family was so poor that there were weeks when my parents had to decide between buying milk or toilet paper because we were too poor to buy both.
Apparently the toilet paper won out because my brother reminded me recently that we legitimately tried to convince my parents to get a cow when we were kids so we wouldn’t have to spend money buying milk anymore. Creative and resourceful thinking!
Fast forward 20 years to the last financial crisis when I realized that if I wanted to embrace abundance and really learn how to have money in my life, I’d need to start orienting to it in a completely different way, both practically and in my relationship to it.
Making this shift allowed me to completely pay down my credit card debt, build an emergency savings, buy a house, go to grad school, go from zero retirement savings to being on track for retirement and find a calling as a financial wellness coach.
So if this whole pandemic has put you in a place where your life has been turned upside down and you’re really scrambling financially to make things work, and feeling like resources are scarce, I totally get it. Barely being able to cover basic needs is really, really hard.
On top of that, money can bring up so many emotions like shame, guilt, fear, anxiety, overwhelm…. and it’s often a hugely taboo subject in our society.
There is SO much cultural shame and fear around money
And there are so many layers to our experience around money, whether that’s from our relationships, family settings, or even ancestral patterns around scarcity that have been passed down through the generations.
The silver lining is that you will get through this. And I bet, based on my own experience and working with clients who have been through similar situations, you’ll come out more resilient on the other side.
So how do you connect with abundance when all you’re feeling is scarcity?
Well here’s what works for me:
Think back to the times in your life when you felt abundant, and I don’t just mean with money
What are some of the times either recently or in the past where you felt connected to a sense of expansive joy and totally in the flow: either with your creative work, your friends, with your family or loved ones… maybe it was when you were dancing or gardening or playing with your pet in the yard on a sunny afternoon.
What’s the similar quality you felt in all of these experiences? Perhaps it was feeling relaxed, joyful, expansive and aligned with the moment. Essentially, feeling a sense of abundance.
So here’s my number one secret to embrace abundance in a time of scarcity:
Connect with what brings you joy
Use this time to connect with the simple things that bring you joy.
What brings you joy? Pull out your phone or a pen and paper and create a list off the top of your head of what brings you joy on a weekly basis. Perhaps it is as simple as calling someone up and expressing gratitude, or maybe it’s undertaking a creative baking project with your family, or dancing in the living room to your favorite song.
With all of the extra time that so many of us have throughout this pandemic, how can you include at least one more thing in your day every day that brings you joy and allows you to connect with a sense of abundance?