On Money and Mindfulness
Most days, I am led to believe I'm doing fine. With money, that is.
If you've ever worked for a financial services company which advocates financial literacy for the company, and for as much as six years, being mindful with money would be second nature like breathing. However, I've left the financial services industry for most of my time two years ago, occasionally writing for the personal finance blogazine we've founded a couple of years ago.
Now that I don't live and breathe personal finance every day of my life, staying mindful of my money habits is as challenging as trying to slim back down to size 0 as you approach the age of 30. I am one of the daily perpetrators of copy pertaining to spending to new things, to trying out products because it's new, or it would make you cool, or that it would fit your lifestyle. Not that it's bad, but I've just lost touch that side of me which keeps tabs on interest rates, invests religiously and does not spend mindlessly over on-sale dresses and spontaneous trips. On second thought, I do love those trips!
Coming back to Sun Life one Monday morning for the launch of their e-learning course brought me a ton of money thoughts. Was I investing enough? Suddenly, everything I've spent on for the last two years came rushing in my head and the familiar knock of financial fitness sounded in my ears.
As I sat in my seat, I remember Carrie Bradshaw in the fourth season of Sex and the City, where Carrie has to buy back her apartment from Aidan after they've broken up. In this episode, she realizes how much she's invested on shoes, a lifetime of experience and not much else. I don't see myself in this situation, thankful it is not dire. It does pose a serious nightmare to me: a box full of designer shoes with nowhere to go. Except that my biggest splurge of late would be the stamps on my passport. Without necessarily going into a rabbit hole of money woes, how does an independent girl handle all these?
Mindfulness.
Mindfulness allows me to truly digest my shopaholic tendencies, to think thoroughly if I a) want what I'm about to pay for b) truly afford it. Mindfulness lets me think about what are my long term plans and how my short term desires affect this. Does my craving for a new gadget contribute to the overall bigger picture? Do I have the capacity to earn something from it, monetary or otherwise? Mindfulness allows an educational approach to fill my mind, from taking a Registered Financial Planner course to regularly keeping my financial quotient high through online learning facilities such as Learnvest, FINRA and now, Brighter Life Institute.
Six years ago, I wrote about how clueless I was with money. Today, I'm proud to say that while I'm not the best of them all, I am not completely clueless {especially on money}. Not clueless at all.
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