Financial Liftoff

Last spring, our local library asked me to put together a presentation on financial wellness. I gladly said yes, because I think finances have a huge impact on our relationships and our mental health. 

How many of us have stayed clear of therapy because of the cost?

How many of us have avoided vitamins we need or doctors’ appointments for preventative care because of cost?

How many of us have said no to opportunities for friendship or to build up our marriages because there’s never enough for “extras”?

How many of us have felt anxious, burdened, and weighed down by trying to organize our finances?

 So, yeah, I’m in. I created a presentation and fun workshop exercises and handouts and popped over to my library.

How many people showed up?

Zero.

Ouch.

But I am undeterred. Now I have all these resources and nowhere to go with them, so you, beloved reader, get the fruit of my squashed ego and overzealous planning … just in time for Christmas budgeting or New Year’s financial resolutions.

I present to you … Financial Liftoff

These resources help us to consider some of the things going on underneath the surface of our financial well-being to help us shed some of the weight and “liftoff” toward our goals and dreams.

We all have financial dreams – ranging from feeling less anxious constantly about whether we’ll be able to buy groceries next week, to taking trips, or paying for education, or owning our own business. Financial worry and anxiety are real. Sometimes there are other emotions attached to money that we don’t even know are there. These resources are designed to help you get to the hopes and dreams and emotions behind the way you utilize your money, so that you can begin to have conversations and make decisions about money without all the weight and baggage.  

What comes in the Financial Liftoff Packet?

My 50 Things List –

This is a powerful list that helps you take money off the table when considering your hopes and dreams. I encourage you to list 50 things you’d do if you didn’t have to consider the weight of time and money which often leaves us feeling really limited. This list helps us identify some themes of what’s really important to us versus what we’re spending energy on, and while we may never do any of the things on our list, it helps us let the dreams surface, which is really healthy for our mental health and well-being. (I first experienced making this list for myself in EMDR training with Personal Transformation Institute, so I really can’t take credit. Wow, did it ever change my relationship with both my dreams and the concept of lack. LINK)

 Goals and Dreams –

This printable helps you take some of those big dreams and take them down to what is the most important to you, as well as what’s realistic for today and what can wait to work on tomorrow or what needs to take a back burner. It’s good to hold realism alongside wild dreaming; the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Understanding that is often powerful for our mental health and well-being as well.

 Financial Experiences –

We tend to rarely look at our belief system surrounding money and just spend or save it. Every practical thing we engage in, like finances, has beliefs and assumptions and expectations attached. This is why money is so often the source of contention in relationships. No two people think or believe the same thing about money, and usually we haven’t even identified what we believe about it! That leads to lots of confusing and often hurtful interactions. Our relationship with money also goes way back to what we learned as kids, whether verbally or through the hidden language of unspoken family rules and expectations. This printable helps us begin to process at least the tip of our belief systems and experiences surrounding money.

 Emotions and Finances –

Ah, the E-word. There are emotions attached to our money, oftentimes more than we think. This printable gives us a tool to connect our responses to common emotions and helps us to link each of those responses to their impact on our financial well-being.

These tools are not meant to be therapy. Therapy is best done locally and regularly with someone you can see face-to-face. These tools are simply meant to give you a little more insight into the connection between mental and relational health and the touchy topic of our finances.

 Remember – God gives and God takes away. At the end of the day, all that we have is from God alone. Talking about money may be uncomfortable, because it requires vulnerability from us, just as talking about our hopes and dreams requires much vulnerability from us. It’s a spiritual conversation, money, but we can engage in the conversation because we don’t have to remain distant from a God who loves us … about anything.

I do pray these tools give you the liftoff you need to go dream, discuss, hope, and see His hand at work in your life today.

Up Next: Bids for Connection - In the New Year, we’ll look at the construction of conversation to find more authentic ways to connect with people around us. Also look for more tools for emotions and a new series on grief.

In the Meantime: These resources also fit really well into a full workshop I have for families called, “Protect This House.” If you’re interested in having me come to your community, church, or organization to speak and facilitate discussions about mental and relational health, contact me through the form on the “About” page.