Don't Let Your Self-Worth Impact Your Net Worth
Don’t Let Your Self-Worth Impact Your Net Worth
This Friday is the last Friday of the month, which means it’s the happy hour episode of my podcast, Martinis and Your Money. This month, we discussed our personal care spending and the various reasons why we spend what we do on personal care. During the course of the conversation, it hit me that for many of us, our lack of self-worth drives us to spend money to look and feel better.I confess to spending thousands of dollars over the years because I didn’t have a very strong sense of self-worth. For the longest time, I would say I planned to “look ugly on the weekends” where my ugly look was essentially no makeup on my face. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that I was giving myself the short end of the self-worth stick by even saying I was ugly without my makeup on. The only person who could really call me ugly is me, and I needed to stop it.I used to look in the mirror every morning and literally find hundreds of things that were wrong with me: my saggy boobs, the freckles on my face, my hips or my stretch marks. A little over a year ago, during a conversation with my friend, I realized just how bad this exercise was for my self-esteem and me.
My Personal Journey to Increase Self-Worth
In order to combat the self-hatred, I decided to find something I liked when I looked in the mirror every morning. It wasn’t an easy task for me, but I realized how important it was for my mental health.After a year of practicing this exercise, I recently looked in the mirror and literally said to myself “Wow, you look great” for the first time in my life. It’s taken me 37 years to look in the mirror and not initially see flaws, and I discovered that as I have taken this journey to increase my self-worth, my net worth has benefited as well.It’s amazing to think how much money we spend to make ourselves feel good, whether it’s on personal care, clothes, food, drinks or shoes. I see my clients spend the most money in a period around times where they aren’t happy with themselves; and the sad reality is that this spending just leads to less money in the bank which leads us to continue to feel bad about ourselves.
[tweetthis remove_hidden_urls="true"]If we truly want to increase our net worth, we need to start with our self-worth.[/tweetthis]
Increased Self Worth = Increased Net Worth
When we feel good about ourselves and what we are doing, we realize that we have enough and we don’t need things to compensate or distract us from our own reality. I used to spend lots of money on books with the goal of letting them take me away and escape my reality for a few hours. I now love to use that time taking a walk in a nearby park and just reflecting on life rather than avoiding it.My journey towards self-love has been decades in the making, and I still have a long way to go, but I have not only enjoyed the mental results, but the financial results as well. I used to spend more money on makeup as I tried to live as few ugly days as possible; however, now I wear makeup less because I not only enjoy my natural look but it saves me money.I used to get my hair colored every 8 weeks like clockwork because I was convinced that any sign of roots would make me unlovable. Now I stretch my colorings for 12 weeks or more and enjoy the natural change as it comes in.If you are looking to save money in your budget, I encourage you to take a journey of self-discovery and increase your self-love. The less you worry about what other’s will think of you and the more you focus on making yourself happy, the less money you will spend. I guarantee you that this is an exercise your mind and bank account will thank you for one day.Gif Source: Giphy
Do you spend more money when you feel bad about yourself? Do you spend money on personal care because you want to or because you feel you need to?
Bonus - I specifically chose not to use this for a Music Monday post, but if I did, it would be the song Beautiful by Christina Aguilera. So here it is: