“What money lessons did your Mom teach you?”
It’s such a simple question…and yet, when I was asked, I had no answer.
“There must be something…” I thought.
The lessons my Dad taught seem clear. I wasn’t allowed to work at our family gas station because that was no place for girls. I wasn’t sent out to shovel the neighboring cabin’s roofs to keep them from collapsing in the winter like my brothers (and which earned them a nice little winter nest egg.) When I was old enough, I could babysit and clean houses. That was about it for girls.
Clearly, my Dad had ideas of what was women’s work and what his boys could accomplish.
But my Mom????
I suppose I learned to make due with what we had. When resources were thin and if the cornmeal had little bugs in it, you shifted them out and made cornbread. I learned to make my own clothes (back when fabric was cheap) and to repurpose things I didn’t like. I learned that it was more fun to make my own Barbie Dream Home in our bookshelves, using books as beds and scraps of wood for furniture, than it was to play with my friend’s official plastic version.
I learned some great skills that I’m grateful for today (I’m still a maker of things.) Yet… it was all through the lens of ‘not having’ enough.
Neither of my parents taught me how to make enough money to support myself. No one taught me how to pay bills, or to save for my future.
No one taught me to tap into the energy of money, to create a relationship that would both nourish me and support my family. It’s one of the reasons I stayed so long in my first marriage. I was terrified that I would end up homeless and my children would be taken from me. How could I possibly protect them then?
When I first started making my own money it was such a relief. I actually could pay my own bills and support my kids. It was tight, and all those make due skills came in really handy.
Yet, Money had more planned for me. I started to have conversations with the energy of Money. It invited me to consider that there might be more. That just getting by was limiting my ability to do my work in the world.
I took some risks. I hired coaches that, on paper, I couldn’t afford. As a result, I doubled, than tripled my income. I hired team to do the things I didn’t want to, freeing my time to do more money-making activities.
Gradually, I wasn’t just getting by. Money began to flow, and with it, the whispers of Money guided me in investing in my future. I learned not only how to make money, but how to use that money to make more.
Money has taught me how to use the energy of intention and the pull of desire to create abundance in my life. To be diligent in the practices I use and grateful for the results.
There is, always, more to learn, more to unravel. I will continue to examine how “make due” both serves me and limits me. I’ll untangle the beliefs that hold me back and build new ones about my abilities to create what I desire.
And I’ll do it with the help of my friend, Money.
I’m curious… what did your Mom teach you about money? Drop me a note and let me know your story.
With all my heart,
