Financial forgiveness

But what about you? Sure, you’re probably not going to get a bail out any time soon. And your relationship with Sallie Mae has serious mileage left before your student loan is forgiven. Long-term financial forgiveness is one thing, but the type of forgiveness I’m referring to is much more dyer in your day-to-day life.

Picture this.

Monday morning. You’re zipping through the house making sure the kids are up and moving, clothes are clean, the dog is walked and food is ready for breakfast. Then, it’s off to drop the kids off at their respective schools before you make the trek to start your work day.

In the midst of the chaos you eschew breakfast, grab coffee on the way to the office and choose to go out to lunch instead of making one at home. After a long day of work (with a few breaks for some online shopping), you’re too tired to cook so you pick up the kids and order take-out for dinner.

Sound familiar?

We’re a busy bunch, and it’s very difficult to find the time to make it all work and stay sane. So when we check our bank balances after the bills are paid, the kids are squared away and we’ve done our daily spending, we’re a little embarrassed that the account is so low. We know that it was our actions that led us to this point, but we’re still upset with ourselves. We’re smarter than this, right? But month-after-month, we find ourselves in this same situation.

I talk a lot about being conscious of what you’re doing with your money each day. After all, going after your ideal life is a lot tougher when you don’t know exactly where your current one resides. So when you go through your current financial situation and uncover what your real financial habits are, don’t bury those negative emotions; bring them to the surface and let them heal naturally.

Don’t judge your choices; remember, you are human and you make mistakes. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed; we’ve all had moments of excess. Instead of making changes from a place of shame, blame, judgment or guilt, come from a place of forgiveness.

Action step

As we’re inundated with messages of big bank bailouts and student loan forgiveness, it’s time to start forgiving ourselves for our financial mishaps – those out of our control and those within our own grasps. Start practicing financial forgiveness in your own life. Stop looking at your big picture as one financial failure after another and choose instead to view it as lessons learned.

This week, focus on financial forgiveness. Don’t beat yourself up over that spending spree. Instead, forgive yourself and come up with a better financial plan for your fun money. Financial healing and financial forgiveness go hand-in-hand; forgive yourself for your mistakes and the healing will soon follow.

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