If you are like most women in business and women who have families you are in the midst of an emotional whirl wind at this moment in time. Even if you are financially sound and you pay your bills on time and you are happy with your life, one cannot not be impacted by all of the negativity that is permeating every aspect of our lives. We can say we are “tough as nails” and we can put on the front of confidence, but any small dent in the armour makes us vulnerable to the negative arrows being spewed out from anything with a speaker.
How does one insulate ones self and ones family from this unnecessary barrage of negativity. Well, this may sound too simple: Turn everything OFF! Just do not turn on the radio in the car, do not turn on the TV at home. This will pass. You & your family will not be lost or loss something valuable. What you will gain is a more calm center from which to operate.
If you are thinking that you will watch the late news before you go to bed in order to shield your children, you are wrong. What you are actually doing is putting all this negativity, worry and concern into your sleepy subconscious and you fall asleep and ruminate over it all night long. You wake up unrefreshed, tired, lethargic and not in a restful frame of mind to take care of your family. You walk through the day in a foggy daze.
When we take the time to educate ourselves about finances and money and how to handle same we equip ourselves from a position of strength. Then teaching that information to our children, teens, and friends in an uplifting honoring way in order to equip them reinforces our own knowledge. If you have teenagers, the time is NOW to equip them with solid financial information about how to handle their own money. Next time you pay bills, have your teens sit with you and do the calculations, writing the checks, entering them into the checkbook, balancing it. Next time you get your bank statement, have your teenager balance the statement to your checkbook. If your teen has a part time job, take him or her to the bank and open their own bank account and begin to teach financial responsibility to them.
Ask yourself this: Where did I learn about money and finances? If your answer is: I didn’t or I had to teach myself, get yourself and your family educated. There are lots of books, free programs at your local library and chamber of commerce, local banks and other financial businesses who give informational training all the time. If you prefer to pay for a course at a local community college or jointures do that. It will be money and time well spent.
One other note here. Remember that in times prior to 1990 we as a society did not have such unfettered access to people, meetings, information, Internet, cell phones, satellites on such a scale. So as a society we just we not in on the blow by blow, minute by minute barrage of information (it really isn’t news, it is hype and hysteria or speculation) as we do today. Words like “bailout”, “crash” and so on are thrown around without thought about how it impacts you and me. Again educate yourself about what constitutes a “crash” or a “bailout”. Where did these terms originate?
Tend to your own business and your family and your financial health. Give thanks for your blessings.
