Finances Aren’t About Numbers
Finances are about emotions.
Perhaps you are in mountain of debt, you’ve lost your job or you are in denial about your financial trouble. My first advice would be for you to slow down and learn more about recovering your money calm.
We tend to frantically run around and try to fix things amid a financial storm.
My brother, Jim, has decades of experience driving boats on Lake Powell in southern Utah. It is a beautiful blue reservoir in a red-rock canyon roughly the size of the Grand Canyon. The lake is very large and can more accurately be described as a small sea. Its shoreline stretches in and out of canyons for over nineteen hundred miles.
The draw for boating on that lake is soaking in the tranquil and beautiful views. However, Lake Powell is located in the desert and weather there can change quickly. When the winds come, the waves can easily reach six feet high in a matter of minutes. Jim said, “If you are driving the boat when that happens, you had better know what you are doing.” Here is his advice, which mirrors expert advice elsewhere.
First, reduce your speed and know how to ride the waves.
When the big waves come, if you do not slow down from a cruising speed, you will swamp the boat. If you drive directly into the waves, you will swamp the boat. If you stop the engine, you can no longer direct the bow of the boat and it will, again, swamp. However, if you lower your speed to about twenty miles per hour and direct the bow into the waves at forty-five degrees, you can maneuver the boat to safety.
Second, drop anchor.
Sometimes the storm is so strong that the safest thing to do is find a sheltered location, anchor the boat, and wait out the storm. It may be necessary to tie off on a buoy or drop the anchor off the front of the boat. On Lake Powell, you can often wait until the storm passes or until you get help. Jim says, “The most important thing to remember to safely weather the storm is to realize there is no one answer. The best captains have experienced enough that they can adjust to the power of each storm in a way to safely wait it out or return to a safe port. The key is to be able to correctly adjust to the current circumstances.”
Financial difficulty feels like rough waters.
The admonition to slow down and assess your situation is spot on. Frantic activity doesn’t usually help as much as taking meaningful, finance-saving action. Taking smarter actions is better than being in an anxious state, running around doing things that may not make any difference in the long term. Focus on learning the things that matter and take actions that will help you most. Gather and use knowledge from experts to ride the waves of financial recovery. Trust the inspiration you get along the way. Be intentional about your path ahead.
Connect with me to talk about your options to drive your finances to a safe, Money Calm harbor.
