Welcome back to part 2 of the 5-part series on getting unstuck. In the last segment, we looked at 3 ways to get unstuck fast, and in this installment, we will look at specific ways to get unstuck around money.
Money is one of the issues I’m asked about most often, and it’s not surprising, given the amount of attachment, expectation, and emotion that surrounds money for most people. Additionally, money is a multi-layered, multi-faceted issue, and one that spans multiple lifetimes. In other words, NO WONDER it’s stressing you out! But hey, luckily we can fix that. Here is a powerful, yet simple tip to help you get unstuck around money.
Tip #1: Untangle it.
Money is a big stressor for a lot of folks NOT because they don’t have enough of it (although you’d think that was it), but because it’s all tangled up in places it doesn’t belong. You can start to get unstuck around money by simply seeing it for what it is: ink on paper, backed up by some shiny metal bricks. Money only has value because we all agree as much. Years ago, when I first moved to Colorado, we toured the U.S. Mint in Denver. In the room where you wait for the tour to begin, they have some artifacts and museum-type stuff to peruse. Did you know that before our current paper and coin money (but AFTER bartering), people used to use blue beads in place of money. And it wasn’t fancy counterfeit-proof etched crystal blue beads, no. These were wooden beads that were painted blue. And that was what was used for money, because people agreed it had value. Can you imagine that? And just think, years and years from now, when money was obsolete, $100 bills will be in some museum case for kids and families to tour and peruse, and they’ll think, look at those thin slips of paper. Can you believe wars were fought and won and people DIED and killed over those little slips of paper? Crazy times, I tell ya!
Start to untangle money from your desires, from your self-value, from your measure of success. Yes, money plays a factor in ALL of those, BUT if you are stuck around money, I’d lay odds you’ve put far too much emphasis on money. What are you not doing or enjoying right now in your life because you’re too worried about money? Untangle it. See if you can enjoy it in some way — no matter how small — right now, even if nothing in your money situation were to change.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you really want to travel, but you feel you can’t because you don’t have the money. What if you were to start planning a trip? If money weren’t an issue, where would you want to go? Make a list. Now pick your top three locations. What sorts of things would you do there, if you were to visit those places this year? Make more lists. Write it all out. Last question: WHY do you want to go to these places and do these things? Really think about why you want this. Write that out, too. Maybe you want to see the world, or maybe you’ve always been enamored with a certain place since you were a kid, or maybe you want to go to the land of your ancestors, or maybe you saw it in a movie and it was the most enchanting place you’d ever seen. There’s no right answer, only the truth matters. Be honest and write about why you want to go there.
Now, read through everything you’ve written. How can you begin to get what you want today, right now? If you’ve always wanted to travel to Russia because you’ve never eaten borscht, could you find the best ever recipe online and make it yourself? Could you find a Russian restaurant (even if that means driving 2 hours each way), so that you could try Russian food as soon as tonight? As late as this weekend? Look for ways you can say YES to what you want right now, instead of tying everything up in money knots.
In the grand scheme, life’s short. Don’t put off what you really want because it’s all tangled up in money. Find a way to say yes to some PART of it today, and you will start to get unstuck with money.
Go for it.
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