Turn what IF into what next
We live in a world of “what if”. Some people are all about the doom and gloom—What if I die tomorrow? What if I don’t get that job? What if I can’t find happiness? What if I get hurt trying this new thing? This negative approach to “what if” damages our holistic wellness.
But what if—we took a positive stance on life? Maybe we would feel just a little more balanced internally. Getting a handle on the intellectual and financial dimensions (IF) that contribute to your overall holistic wellness may lead you from “what if” to “what next”.
Intellectual Wellness
I think, therefore I am.
If you don’t think, your brain will shrink. As the control center for your whole body, your brain is one of your most valuable resources. In fact, the average brain processes 70,000 thoughts daily. If we thought about our brains like a bank, we’d try to put in as much currency as possible to make us mentally rich. It just so happens this organ’s currency is knowledge.
I’ve been an educator for many years. I always get excited to see when people’s light bulbs go off because they have learned something new. When they are thinking their way through something and then… Voila, they get it! I’m sure we’ve all had these moments at one time or another.
That shift in understanding is another dollar being put into your brain bank. But just as these intellectual dollars can be deposited into the bank, you can also withdraw through forgetfulness and lack of use. For us to maintain intellectual wellness, we must continue to learn and apply what we have learned to useful actions.
What daily deposits can you make to grow your brain account?
Financial Wellness
My Mind on My Money and My Money on My Mind.
As a young adult, I struggled heavily with financial wellness. I grew up in a very soul-rich household, but we were financially poor. Managing money was more about the hustle to make ends-meat than it was about the leap to prosperity and abundance.
In college, I rotated between 3 jobs. The money I earned from these gigs supplemented the thousands of dollars I took out in school loans to pay for my education and just to survive. As a full-time student working almost 40 additional hours per week, you can imagine that my grades suffered. But I finally graduated and I went into a career in education—ironically.
After college, I had all those yummy school loans to pay off and like many of my peers who didn’t understand how to manage finances, I defaulted on them. The average school loan debt at that time was nearly $23,000 upon graduation. With a starting salary of about $32,000. I was making less than that and had a higher amount of debt.
I was embarrassed, scared, and confused—it seemed like there was no way out of this mess! What I didn’t know was that I was not alone. In fact, one out of every 10 Americans have been in school loan default at one time or another.
As a strived for intellectual wellness, I found I was financially unwell. How could I ever think of abundance when I can’t even pay my bills on time? I found myself thinking what IF I had done things differently.
The loan department graciously made me an offer to reinstitute my active status after making a payment, but the default stayed on my credit report for 7 years! This was a hard-learned lesson, but I needed to learn it so I would not make this mistake again.
What doesn’t break you, only makes you stronger.
After getting myself back on the right track, I took a good long look at my finances; examining my budgeting practices, my debt-to-income ratio, and my credit score. I was never taught about how to effectively manage money when I was in school. [Side note: Why isn’t this a required course-like Algebra or Geometry?].
I was now not only determined to understand my finances better, I was driven to make the shift to financial wellness. I no longer wanted to make ends-meat, I want to thrive in prosperity and abundance. I wanted the IF to be balanced-so I used my intellectual capabilities to grow my financial capacity.
I recognize everyone’s journey towards financial wellness is different. Some are born with the silver spoon, others didn’t even know it existed. But just because our circumstances are different, it doesn’t mean we can’t all do better.
What does abundance and prosperity look like for you?
Summing it all up
It’s time to turn your “what if” into “what next”.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Your net worth is what usually remains when you subtract your bad habits from your good ones.” The steps you take towards intellectual and financial wellness may not be easy ones, but the outcome will be worth it in the end.
Now let’s see what OPS there are for you in the next chapter of this holistic wellness blog series.
As a reminder, there are 5 parts to this holistic wellness series. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series (titles listed below) and don’t forget to download the helpful PDF at the end of the series. It will be a great resource for you to discover key activities for you to incorporate regularly towards each of the 8 dimensions.
What's Up Next For the Series?
Disclaimer: The content of this blog and website is the sole opinion of the author and is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, medical, financial, or other professional advice. Always seek counsel from a professional for these matters if you have questions or concerns regarding your specific circumstances.
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AMAZING! If meaningful life skills were taught in school, but wait…institutionalized oppression isn’t about providing anything beneficial. So what YOU have shared is liberating and revolutionary because so many people are similarly affected. Congress & the President should Abolish Student Loan Debt…NOW!