There’s something so beautiful about mornings. The sun slowly streams through your window and it’s like possibility is being reborn. A couple mornings ago, as I was enjoying my morning coffee drip and toast with apple butter, I took notice to a guest on the Today Show. The topic was personal finances and the guest was Kate Northrup, author of Money, A Love Story. Her book is a guide on how to refocus your understanding of money in order to take into account not only its monetary value, but its emotional value as well. Her perspective makes perfect sense to me and reminded me of how infrequently we, as a society and particularly as women, feel like we have enough to be happy.
I thought this would be a great subject to touch upon for the Choose Beauty Linkup because the way in which we choose to spend money can directly relate to how beautiful or valuable we consider our surroundings and belongings. Money is such a sore subject and I often find myself (especially lately with the move and the job instability) complaining that I don’t have enough of it. It’s easy to resort to this rant because it places blame on the external rather than admitting to the weaknesses of the internal.
I’m gonna take some tips from Ms. Northrup and readjust my life lens. She used the example of paying rent to illustrate her point; rent (or mortgage) is something we all have to pay for. It’s at the top of our list, our first priority, but yet when we’ve accomplished it we tend to see it as “done” rather than “job well done”. We forget to be grateful for what we’ve paid for – the most important thing we pay for – and so the emotional value of all that money spent is lost.
Take time to be grateful for what you have. Money spent is not money lost. That something you gained, whether it’s a cup of coffee or a purse you’ve been coveting for years, will prove its worth as long as you allow it to. Take the time to slow down and instead of thinking about the next thing you want or can’t have, relish in what you can have, what you do have. Enjoy it to the fullest extent and see the beauty in having those nuggets of joy.
Don’t spend your time thinking about spending money. Time is money too and the more you spend stressing about those missing dollar signs in your bank account, the less you have to enjoy the free things in life. You’d be surprised how many minutes you could probably save when you free yourself of the guilt and worry. Invest your time in your relationships instead – to nature, to others, to your community.
Allow yourself to spend money on the things you reeeeally love (within reason). And make sure you reeeally love it. For me, it’s those few cups of coffee from my favorite local Atlanta spots. It’s the last luxury I have in my life, but I will fight tooth and nail to have it because of how good it makes me feel. Forget what people tell you is valuable; figure out what is most valuable to you and live it up.
Create more value and beauty in the world. So let me tell you. The whole not making money thing can definitely be a drag. Trust me, I know! But you can’t sit around and do nothing about it. And you can’t think that the instant you create something, someone will buy into it or into you. That maps out an easy path to self destruction and self defeat. Make a long-term commitment to creating value in the world; do things that will make yourself valuable to others and allow your talent to become a necessity wherever you are. In time, it will come back to you.
Choose to invest in the things that are most beautiful to you, including yourself.
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