Financial insecurity - real or imagined

Financial insecurity is in the air and it made me curious, do we all feel it?

Well the answer is it more widespread than we might think, driven by a combination of factors including:

Economic uncertainty such as war, inflation, high cost of living et.;

Social media-fuelled comparison culture, which even has a word - ‘money dysmorphia’ - which is a psychological phenomenon where individuals have a distorted perception of their financial situation, often believing that they are doing worse financially than they actually are. This can lead to a feeling of phantom wealth where people may feel broke despite having savings and assets, or even when objectively stable, living with constant fear of immediate financial ruin.

Then there is childhood scarcity and the effect of growing up in a household with financial instability, and how this can create a lasting sense of fear, and a scarcity mindset that continues into adulthood, regardless of how much money is earned.

And of course there is money trauma, where experiences like bankruptcy or watching parents struggle with debt can create ‘money vigilance’ scripts, where the brain becomes hyper-alert to threats of financial catastrophe. Understandably this can be very destabilising.

Then there’s the fact our brain is wired for survival rather than financial peace, and thus it tends to identify and focus on threats to well-being, which means we often focus on the potential to lose everything rather than our current stability. It’s like not seeing reality through a negative and fearful lens.

Society doesn’t help and we can confuse our sense of worth with our earning potential and financial wealth, leading to feelings of shame, guilt and reduced self-esteem if we feel we should be earning and saving more than we have been.

Then of course when is enough ever enough? Often as income increases, perceived needs and expectations often increased simultaneously resulting in a perpetually moving target for what constitutes ‘enough’. After all when is enough ever enough?

My Dad and his siblings grew up with the financial scarcity and bankruptcy and I have witnessed how they individually dealt with this, their choice in jobs and the quest for financial security. I have witnessed a friend with poverty mindset from being homeless once. I have worked in the finance industry with people who earn significant amounts of money but are empty on the inside, and others, who, despite their income, live on credit because of their attempts at keeping up with the Jones.

Some have little but live generously, others have lots but squander it mindlessly.

Many are triggered each time a bill comes through the letter box or a tax demand arrives.

At times there is a feeling of stability, abundance and at other times fear sets in and our mind imagines worst case scenario.

It is something I have been gradually playing around with and I notice how much of it is in the mind. That the fear - of being homeless, destitute - is an imagining for the most part, that the powers that be, great mystery have always ensured that there is enough, even if that enough is not as much as I think I need. Somehow I’ve always managed, even during the pandemic, where being self-employed and working in the area of touch put me and many like me in a financially vulnerable situation. But even then, we survived.

I have seen how money, or the fear of not having money, stops people living their dreams and realising more of their potential. how it gets in the way of them making changes and promoting their health and wellbeing.

Essentially it is a root chakra issue. If our root is out, we are likely to feel disconnected to the earth, unsafe and alone., We might struggle to stand on our own two feet and need constant financial support or bailing out from others.

The more we heal the root, the more we realise we are held and loved, the more we recognise that the powers that be always give us what we need, the more we can rest into feelings of financial stability. After all, the powers that be, the great mystery, gifts us are to breathe, gravity to ground and an abundance of food to eat.

Sometimes we need to stop and reflect - what do we really need, and how much are our choices costing us? At the end of the day we all have choice in life even if we don’t realise it - we might chose a big house and all that entails in running costs and tax, we choose whether and where we go on holiday, we choose what we spend on our children.

Often people don’t feel they have a choice, such is their conditioning to live a certain way or their sense of needing to be seen to have made it, or parental expectation, or the idea of ‘success’ amongst peers, and often confusing material wealth with self worth.

Delving deep into our root chakra can help. To look at our condtionnings, our patterns, our stories around our finances - how much of our financial insecurity is real or imagined?

Sometimes all that is required is a shift in mindset, to focus on abundance rather than scarcity and to trust in ourselves and the powers that be.

Love Emma x