A-Bun-Dance 4 your Finance

Finance and Money – A Pain in the Brain When You Have ADHD If you are living with ADHD, I bet managing your Money is a challenge. From paying bills late, payment overdue notices, impulsive spending, debt that keep building up, not knowing where the cash you had in your wallet went, borrowing Money to trying to stick to a budget. How about consolidating debt to lower the interest you are losing to the bank and finding yourself in the same situation a few years later. Hey! I know the feeling as I’ve been where you are, trying to master the art of financial health and financial intelligence, feeling totally overwhelmed asking myself questions I didn’t find answers too, feeling anxious, stressed and soooo insecure about Money until... Before revealing the turning point that helped turn things around, allow me to share a glimpse of what my financial heritage looked like. For both my parents, Money was a great source of stress and worries. They lived with the fear and insecurities of not having enough and wondered how they would make it from the moment they knew I was coming. Those worries, stresses and fears about Money were the same for their parents, grandparents and went up 12 generations or a whole lot of ancestors before me. Talking about cells, DNA and subconscious programming. Guess my memory and hard drive were full! What I heard about Money as a child created a belief system I was unaware of, convinced that was the way it was for everyone. One souvenir was profoundly engraved and that is seeing my mother count what she’d earned to make sure she had enough to provide for our basic needs and to ensure all her financial responsibilities were respected. She always paid her bills on time. As a single mom (like any parent for that matter), her priorities had probably a lot to do with survival as she worked hard so that we could have a roof over our head, food on the table, clothes to wear. We always had everything we needed and she even bought a house near my grandparents where we would go during summer vacation. We even lived there a few years. I don’t remember having the feeling we were poor or less fortunate but I do remember thinking how unfair it was that some had more Money than others and wondering why it was that way, why we didn’t have more. Can you see the belief system taking form? So, one day, as I saw my mother sitting at the kitchen table count her Money yet again I decided I would NOT spend my life counting mine. Nope. Rather than saving it, Money to me, existed to be spent. On that account, I couldn’t care less about where my cash went or what I spent it on. If I wanted something, I wouldn’t think twice and buy it instead of paying my phone bill. As Simba in the movie The Lion King, laughs in the face of danger, I laughed in the face of Money. Determined to control it instead of it controlling me, it did exactly that. Fortunately, things have evolved. Along with the family heritage came a brain wired differently with a disinterest for Money management. Forty years of my life went by without me knowing this fact about myself or that it could explain part of my unhealthy relationship with Money. Far from being a fan of the boxes our society has created to put people in (as I prefer referring to myself as an Indigo rather than a woman with ADHD), acquiring a better understanding of my uniquely wired brain was remarkably helpful. When you don’t know how your engine works it’s hard or nearly impossible to move forward. It feels like learning to drive a standard car, waiting at a red light uphill and finding the right balance between the clutch and the gas pedal so the car doesn’t go downhill. Finding meaning Things needs to make sense and have a purpose otherwise, the same behavior - whether it be procrastination, uncontrolled spending or lack of discipline in managing finances – will be repeated, over and over. Surely, you can relate and here’s some the things that are getting in the way: Your system of shallow beliefs Your family heritage Your disinterest for finances What does it keep you from being, doing and having? Keep on reading, you’ll find out soon enough! Now back to that special brain... The moment I discovered what I much prefer calling a difference than a disorder, a strong impulse took over my entire body. Something inside came alive. Right there and then, it became crystal clear that I wanted to help others embrace their uniqueness, their highly creative genius and their strengths through coaching. Life has this magical way of speaking to you and does so in many forms. Slowing down and practice listening is a must do to hear, see and feel those messages. The Journey is the Destination When you choose to walk on the path of personal growth, you may at times feel as if you are moving forward at the pace of a sea turtle coming out of the ocean, making her way slowly in the sand until it can finally rest. You may believe there is a destination to be reached. However, personal transformation and spiritual growth is not something you buy a plane ticket to, get there and it’s over. Your journey is your destination. There is often a pivotal point, or a succession of events you can refer to, as to when everything started. I didn’t know it then, but mine was in September 2007.