Financial Wellness: Getting Started by Taking it from Concept to Practice
January 24, 2011Physical wellness is a much easier concept to understand than financial wellness but they are actually intertwined together since finances are the leading cause of stress and stress is the leading cause of illness. This hit me this week because I decided to try something new (that’s my New Year’s resolution — try 52 new things) so I went to a yoga class called Yin Yoga.
What is different about Yin Yoga (and why I get to count it as something new since I have done yoga before) is with this type of yoga, you are very still and you relax into deep stretches that release any deeply held tension in muscles in your connective tissue. In my limited one time experience, Yin Yoga was like being twisted like a pretzel and then attempting to relax and twist some more. Needless to say, it was a challenge but like most yoga classes or other types of workouts, I felt absolutely wonderful afterward. I was relaxed and energized. In fact, my lower back felt better than it had in years from the wonderful deep stretching and relaxation.
This experienced embodied what “wellness” is to me. Once I felt that feeling, I didn’t want to let that go. Since then, I’ve eaten more fruit, drunk more water, and stretched more than I have in a long time. That means after this one class I took a minimum of three other positive actions to improve my health.
Financial wellness on the other hand often feels very intellectual. It makes sense since money is quantifiable; you are usually using spreadsheets or calculators, and maybe checking on the computer. You are measuring, counting, and strategizing. The problem may be emotional but the solution is very intellectual. When you take an action to improve your finances, you are glad and maybe proud of yourself but there isn’t that same wonderful feeling when taking a physical action for health that really spurs you on to keep going.
So create it. Reward yourself when you take positive actions – use “behavior modification” on yourself taking your actions out of the cerebral world and add in the emotional world so you can experience the full range of physical and financial wellness.
In order to do that and make the biggest impact, think about what is causing you the most financial stress and start with that. Check out the series I’ve been working on that I call “in an hour” where I outline specific financial actions that can be done in less than an hour and how each one can make a significant difference in your finances. If you like any of those, choose one or simply choose an action that you feel is the best one for you to start with — the most important action for your personal financial situation.
Financial Education: 3 Important Check-ups to Do in an Hour
3 Actions to Take in an Hour to Prepare for Emergencies
3 Actions to Take in an Hour to Build Wealth
Financial Education: Estate Planning: Three Things to Do in an Hour
When you have completed it, celebrate with something that really makes you feel good – (unless of course it’s smoking cigarettes – we are working at wellness here) something healthy that gives you a similar wonderful feeling of wellness I had walking out of the yoga studio. Try Yin Yoga if you like! Celebrate every time you take a big step and pretty soon, you’ll be looking forward to taking care of your finances instead of avoiding them. You’ll be saying to yourself, “I used to be stressed about my finances” like I am saying, “I used to have back pain.”
Life is short, we might as well enjoy it along the way and try to make important changes in our lives a little easier.