On the surface, money is just a medium to exchange goods, a few numbers in your bank account, but it is also one of the most powerful motivators of people in today’s world. Despite the stories of people living without money, it has a big impact on our basic needs and lifestyles, and we should acknowledge this is how today’s world is built.
But money isn’t everything, especially once you’ve gotten to a stage that allows you to cover your needs of shelter, food, warmth and safety. And money shouldn’t be the thing that controls our lives and stops us from following our dreams. Yet it often is.
Money is often the reason we don’t pursue our dreams (unless of course your dream is money, but even then, once you have it, you’ll start to question what you want to buy with it). Not having enough money is the easiest fear to hold onto, because money is a legitimate need in our lives.
Money is the reason we keep pursuing career paths and jobs that we already know that we don’t really want to be doing. Money becomes the reason that we ignore our true dreams. Money becomes the reason that we keep tolerating situations, people, lifestyles, things that we don’t really want to tolerate any more. Money becomes the thing that, through spending or saving or investing it, helps us drown out the inner guiding voice.
Money has the power because we let it have the power. We believe that the job we have today is the only real way of making money, or x amount of money. We believe that only when we reach our FIRE number (25x yearly expenses) will we then be able to step away from our current situation and move forward. Only when we have enough will we be able to become who we truly want to be. We let money stand in the way of achieving what we want to do, when we should really see it as a set of numbers in a bank account and as an instrument for creating the life you actually want.
On the flip side of hiding behind money, is the beautiful question of ‘what if?’. What if money wasn’t a problem, what if you stopped thinking about it? What if you could make money doing what you love? What if you had enough - how would that feel? What if you had enough to start that project, to follow your dream? How much would enough be?
This article isn’t asking you to quit your job, or disregard money as a modern necessity. But there is a reason you clicked on this title. There is a reason we stay in bad fitting jobs, or accept mediocre careers as a way of avoiding the big scary leaps that we want to do, or even nurture the small ideas we hold so closely and dearly to our hearts. And it is in our best interests to find out why, to understand what is the real fear holding us back, what is hiding behind our money fears. If we don’t think about it or talk about it, then we let money stand in the way of going after what we truly want. We use it as a security blanket, as golden handcuffs, as a pacifier. We let money become the end itself as opposed to means to an end.
What if you didn’t allow money to hold you back or stand in your way? What if instead money enabled you to pursue your dreams? What if you felt comfortable with money, felt like you had enough? What if money wasn’t your focus at all?
The true questions to ask yourself are:
1) Is money the reason you don’t pursue your dreams?
2) What if you stopped hiding behind that fear?
If you are looking to get started on understanding your money blocks, the Financial Creativity Workbook series will walk you through the foundations of money, through growth and ultimately to abundance. The pages of questions and exercises will guide you to understand how to manage and grow your money, what you need money for and to answer the ultimate question, what would you do if money wasn’t an issue.