Money

 

Money can bring a lot of different emotions to a person’s life. It can bring peace, happiness, misery, pride, and despair. As I have thought about money this week and its effect on me over my lifetime. It is something that I have struggled with. It brings me anxiety. I think this comes from my upbringing. My dad was laid off when I was a freshman in high school. This made it so we didn’t have a lot of money growing up to travel or get extra. I remember for several years when we had help from our ward to get our food. One Christmas we had some people from our ward do secret Santa. This time struggling financially was a huge impact on me. I have found myself scared of money. My husband and I are very frugal. We save and we buy what we need but are not too extravagant. The one thing we do splurge on is vacations. We feel that memories and time spent together with each other, and our family is worth the extra.

I have also seen a lot of money change people and most of them not for good. That is one thing I have always worked on is not letting money, either having too much or not enough be my downfall. I loved reading about Jon Huntsman and even though he and his wife weren’t making a lot of money at the time he still found a little to be able to help someone who was in more need than he and his wife were. I have found that when I have the opportunity to help others or give, even if it is a little, I find immense joy and peace. I have always wanted to have an extra to help those around me.

I have been working on my “relationship” with money over the years. I don’t want it to be my master no matter if I have too much, too little, or just enough. It is getting better for me, but it is something I work on each day.

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