When you grow up poor, you often adopt a scarcity mentality out of necessity. A scarcity mentality makes a lot of sense if there really is never enough to go around. Whether it’s food, clothes, or money, a scarcity mentality trains you to see the lack and feel desperate to fight for your share. 

Changing Your Mindset
It might sound callous to say that regardless of how much you have in your bank account, money is all about mindset. Especially for people who are struggling with paying their bills, that kind of statement can seem out of touch or even offensive. I completely understand that perspective–I’ve been there myself–but I also know it to be true from my personal experiences that getting out of a scarcity mindset makes the biggest difference in your relationship to money.

When I was in college, I was working as many jobs as I could at whatever pay was offered in order to save money. I wanted to make my own money so I wouldn’t have to ask anyone for anything and be able to do whatever I wanted. Though, ironically, I barely had any time to myself because of how much I worked! 

The only time I really allowed myself to splurge was traveling the world and getting a designer bag. Once a year for about three to four years, I would impulsively step into a designer store to buy a designer bag. While shopping I would be calculating in my head how many months of rent this purchase would cost me and experience a rollercoaster of emotions from excitement to fear to exhilaration. Looking back, I loved the experience of being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, with whoever I want, however I want. It wasn’t the bag, it was that freedom. Only through introspection did I discover that. Before my journey of self reflection, I was solely focused on acquiring material things and "worldly" experiences that I felt I had been excluded from my whole life. Instead of asking myself what I really enjoyed, I collected passport stamps and bought designer bags to keep up appearances and to vie for external validation.

How To Reconfigure My Scarcity Mindset
My focus, intention, and energy was all out of alignment. My scarcity mindset extended to the way I treated others. I was really stingy with my money. All I cared about was saving, not using my money to invest in myself or take care of my friends or family in big or small ways. Spending thousands of dollars on designer bags was my way of feeling like I was rewarding myself, but it was completely misguided. I never truly interrogated what I wanted, or what my relationship with money was. 

Through my relationship with my partner and years on this financial literacy journey, I’ve learned to abandon my scarcity mindset and instead adopt a mindset of abundance. Abundance has nothing to do with how many zeros are in your paycheck or checking account. Rather, it’s about an energy flow of being open and intentional; it’s manifesting a reality where money circulates and with proper planning, thinking, investments and earning, the reality of the statement “I do have it all”. Like most things in life, money, time, and energy ebbs and flows. Sometimes it’s plentiful and sometimes it’s tight and I will flow with it. Letting go of the fears of not enough, of scarcity, has been a major step in my relationship with money.

Affirmations
Affirmations have been critical in my journey, and I offer you the following, all of which have given me the emotional encouragement to build better habits:

• Everything and everyone prospers me now and I prosper everyone and everything now.
• I only think in prosperous and abundant terms.
• I am financially secured! I am worthy of financial success.
• There is always money in my wallet/bank at all times!
• I’m healthy, wealthy, and wise!
• I desire the highest and best in my life.
• Everything I touch turns to gold!
• I invite rich and rewarding relationships in my life.

It has taken years to understand and believe these affirmations, and I still need reminders now and again! Trusting myself meant trusting my skills and my support system, and trusting that life will bring abundance. From there, I really started taking back control of my finances, defining freedom and having fun with life. This allows me to be generous and somehow more wealthy than I could have ever imagined (cause I was dreaming too small!).