Episode 320: Become Financially Strong
===
[00:00:00] You are listening to episode 320 of the Peaceful Mind Podcast.
Welcome to the Peaceful Mind Podcast, a place for creating the peace of mind you need to be the best mom you are created by God to be. If you want to bring more balance, more joy, and more peace to your motherhood, this is the place for you. I'm your host, certified life coach at Catholic Mom Danielle Thienel.
In the name of the father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let's get started.
Welcome to the podcast Beautiful Mamas. I'm Danielle Thienel. We are back for the final episode in our five part strength series that I've been running all month Now we've already talked about mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual strength, and [00:01:00] now we're finishing with something that often gets quietly avoided, but it deeply affects our peace.
Today we're gonna talk about becoming financially strong, and we're gonna talk honestly, right? Because for many moms, money is one of those topics that feels heavy, feels confusing, overwhelming, or even shameful. But what I wanna show you is that financial strength is 100% possible for you, and it doesn't start with spreadsheets or perfection.
As most things that you will hear me talk about, it starts with mindset, habits, and of course our faith. So let's name that struggle. Let's begin this episode. Why do we struggle with building financial strength? Maybe you are somebody who avoids looking at your accounts because it just feels too [00:02:00] stressful.
Maybe you're just hoping things will somehow work out, but we don't really feel like we're in control of that. Maybe we rely on our partner to handle the finances and so we feel disconnected from them. Maybe we're feeling guilty about our spending or shame about debt. Perhaps you tell yourself things like, I'm just not good with money, or I'll deal with this later.
Does any of that sound familiar to you personally? One mom that I have had the privilege and honor of being the coach of, we really focused on where she was in her identity and mindset and emotional life about the [00:03:00] subject of money. And I would, I'd love to use her as I'm thinking about many of you out there struggling and use her as an example.
I remember when she actually told me the words that she felt physically sick every time she logged into her bank account. She avoided it oftentimes until bills were overdue. And ironically, this was not somebody who by many standards people would look at like the amount when you really got into the actually data of how much money and investments and finance things she had would not be looking at it as that she had nothing. Okay. But yet she was avoiding it and she really didn't have any clue about her spending patterns, what they were. There just wasn't much awareness around [00:04:00] it at all. But as we worked together, I very quickly honed in. On what was ultimately keeping her stuck, and that was her limiting belief that she was quote, this is just how I am.
And that wasn't true at all. Okay. She didn't actually need a math degree to become an expert at budgeting. She didn't. Need to have anything more than what was already equipped inside of her. And I think that's what's for most of you all out there too. She literally needed a mindset shift and then perhaps a little bit of system like habit changing to form what we would call a system.
Something that she could begin to do regular, small, [00:05:00] consistent, so that she could build some confidence. And a, she needed a reason to explore becoming financially stronger. That came from a place of peace, not from a place of panic. Many of you are struggling and feel insecure and panicked about finances, and that is not where we want our starting point to be.
So that's what this episode about building more financial strength is about. Here is the shift that will change everything. It's about taking ownership, so we wanna move from avoiding our finances to owning them. We wanna bring clarity. We want to bring our faith. That same mom that I mentioned to you, my [00:06:00] client, we worked together to do two things.
One was to rewrite her money story. Many of you, you could benefit from this too, right? We have made up in our minds a story. That has now become our truths. But we need to stop and be, bring some awareness and question these stories or see the results that are being birthed from these stories you're carrying around.
And that's where we wanna rewrite them. This is where you will have an internal change first to rewrite it and then. We would then see the outside of our financial life change. So in this particular client of mine, she stopped believing that she was bad with money, and she started telling herself [00:07:00] that I am actively learning how to manage my money with more intention.
This is what she was like doing. Some small shifts, small changes. But first we had to talk about it and we had to reveal some things about her. She had to get some more like clarity on things that she didn't realize that she was thinking and feeling and doing about her finances so that she could then actively feel the truth that she was, I'm actually learning now how to manage my money.
And that was true with each session we had. And then two. We work together to build her simple, sustainable habits. Simple brings more peace. We, many of you aren't looking at this subject and building muscles in it and growing and becoming stronger in your financial strength because [00:08:00] we think it's overwhelming.
We think there's a lot to do, a lot to change. But we, it can be something as you literally check in and for her to even look at the numbers once a week, and that's where you start. That's all you do, is look at them. You don't have to do anything else, but we're trying to move towards being more connected to them.
And then there was small, sustainable plans that we put into place. There were some that were around giving, right? What was your actual giving plan? And we literally just had to make some decisions when she would give to whom, how much. And then there was plans around budgeting, but how she would decide on the categories and what goes where.
There was a plan around [00:09:00] tithing in specifically I remember and there was a great awareness, there was a plan on what to think and feel and do and not do when the feeling of panic arose in her body, in her life. So we talked through that because knowing there would be something that would come into her life that would probably trigger her to feel panicked again.
Because her brain was so used to, to offering her those thoughts to create panic in her body. So then that's what we created, like small, simple, sustainable habits around those scenarios. And for the first time, she began to feel. More in control and with time and with that feeling, it compounded.
And that my friend, that's the reps that I talk about in building your muscles and we're going to be building our financial [00:10:00] muscles. She gained an energy, that strength, that's what that energy is, that strength, it started spilling over into other areas of her life too. Communication became more clear with her spouse.
She no longer feared surprise bills. She became the kind of woman who felt that when financial challenges or issues or something arose, she was be like, I've got this. And that can happen for you too. If you decide that this is a subject that you are, and I'm putting this in air quotes, weak in, and you wanna become stronger, it's absolutely possible for you.
Let's break it down a little bit. Here's what it might look like when you are financially strong. I wanna take you to that place. That you aren't now, but we wanna begin to envision it so we can lean [00:11:00] into the possibility. Okay. You know what comes in, what goes out, and what your next financial goal is, what it would look like to be financial strong includes you giving generously, not out of pressure, but out of a self purpose.
You're financially strong. You may be budgeting in a way that reflects your values and your lifestyle. You may have margin like room to breathe in your finances. You'll stop perhaps impulse spending from emotional exhaustion, and if you're financially strong, you'll start making purchases from a really aligned, confident place.
Those are just some of the things. That happen when you become more financially strong, you'll stop saying things like, I'll deal with this when, and instead, you'll say, today. Today I can take one step forward on this. [00:12:00] That's financial strength. And I want you all to know that you can become financially strong, like starting now, starting today.
One of those steps could be for you to begin to tell yourself a new money story, like I just mentioned in my client example, that would look like going from, I'm bad with money to, I'm learning how to create peace with money, or peace around money. Your language matters how you talk about it, whether it's out loud or inside your head, it matters.
Your brain listens to you. And I want you to speak life over your finances. I want you to speak positivity over your finances.
Step two would be to do a gentle financial check-in. Notice the key word there is gentle. We don't have to upheaval everything. We just wanna ask ourselves, what am I actually avoiding? [00:13:00] Where do I feel confused and unclear? Where do I feel empowered, right? So there may be places where you feel like you are actually good in, so we wanna look to those so that we can get, give ourselves a little boost. But then the questions of what am I avoiding? Where do I feel unclear? That's gonna give us a direction, that's gonna give us a place to start with everything.
I'm gonna underscore to not judge yourself. To just notice. Remember, awareness is always our first win. It's always a win to gain more awareness about anything about going that's going on in our lives. Step three, we could take a stab at creating a faith aligned budget. That doesn't mean restriction, it means purpose.
There is a podcast episode that I didn't do that long ago [00:14:00] that is about feeling more peace around budgeting. And I also, teach this in my book, the Divine Abundance. I teach you how to budget in a way that begins with gratitude and that it prioritizes giving and it reflects your values. It's not a budget like a totally about spreadsheets.
It's about more clarity, and there is a way for you to feel feel good through budgeting. Whereas many of us like have been avoiding it.
Step four, I'm gonna go to my kind of 10% philosophy. Could we commit to just 10 minutes a week? That's all 10 minutes that maybe you'll review your accounts. Maybe you'll take that 10 minutes to pray about your finances. Maybe you'll take that 10 minutes to get clarity and set one small goal. Maybe you'll take the 10 minutes to track your [00:15:00] progress and you'll do so without the shame.
So many options to get started that we could then repeat as a rep to build financial strength. It is built in those moments, those small choices, the ones we repeat, that's where the financial strength is built. Like I just mentioned, I have a book, it's called Divine Abundance, and in this book I will walk you through the spiritual and practical tools for growing your financial piece. And some of my favorite chapters of where you might be right now includes the chapter on the five habits that are keeping you from prosperity.
And then I have a chapter on the five habits you wanna start doing on a regular basis that are going to build your prosperity. I also talk about giving and receiving. I know for a lot of you the idea of giving money, it's like you understand that, [00:16:00] but some of you aren't good at receiving it. And so I do love that chapter to help people get better.
I don't think that it's taught enough. And of course, like I just mentioned, I want people to have better feelings about budgeting because it is such an integral part of being financially strong and also saving if it's hard for you to save. So there's the chapter on budgeting and saving with faith in there.
And don't worry, like this book. It's, I'm not having you cutting out the lattes or feeling bad about how much money you're spending. This is a book about partnering with God to make your money life more peaceful, purposeful, and strong. Now, before we go any further, I'm gonna pause and I just wanna speak to your heart here because a lot of times we are not as tuned in to this subject of [00:17:00] money and finances and wealth. It is so emotional, right?
I wanna speak to your heart. If you've struggled with money, if you feel like you've never been good at it, or like you're behind, or you're scared to even look at your finances, please know this isn't your fault.
Maybe grew up in a household where money was always tight, maybe you were never taught how to manage it. Maybe you borrowed beliefs from other people. Money is hard. People like us don't get ahead. Rich people are greedy. Faithful women should just be content and never, ever want more. Something along those lines, like whatever messages you absorbed, either consciously or unconsciously.
Those can absolutely shape your current relationship with money. That's all that's the only reason. If you weren't financially [00:18:00] strong, that's the only thing that's going on, right? There's nothing like an innately wrong with you because here's the truth, you can always choose a new belief. You can decide today.
It doesn't even matter what's ever happened up until today. You can decide, I wanna be financial strong. I want to have more peace with money. I wanna be a faithful steward of the resources that God has entrusted to me starting now. This is a focus. This is something I've conviction about.
This is something I'm gonna be committed to. That's all that matters. Is that what you want? If you're answering yes right then no. That no matter where you've been, how many times you've tried, how far behind you feel, this gets to be your turning point if you want it to be. And if you're asking, okay, yes I do, but then how do I actually do that [00:19:00] on this episode?
What I can recommend it. It comes straight from my book, Divine Abundance. It's this is how I answered that question. When people say, how do I do it? How do I become more financially strong? So inside an entire chapter that's called your 30 day Prosperity Plan, and it's the exact structure I created that would guide any reader step by step to build financial strength.
It's, I think, in my humble opinion, a beautiful combination of mindset work, faith-based affirmations, practical budgeting, and saving steps like reflective journaling prompts. And I definitely integrate scripture in there. It's not a hustle plan.
This is a heart plan, one that helps you reset your thoughts, behaviors, and your [00:20:00] relationship with money and finances and in just 30 days, and it works. This is what I use. This is what I help coach my clients through, and it's how I've seen so many people move from fear and avoidance into peace, power, generosity, and really to build financial strength.
Mama, if this episode or this series has stirred something in you, then take this as your invitation to become financially strong or any of the other areas we talked about this past month.
And again, a resource that I know that would help is my book, Divine Abundance. You can start your 30 day plan and let it walk you into more financial peace. Or I also have a course, a self-study course you just buy outright, has videos. It has [00:21:00] PDF attachments that help walk you through all of the areas and through my faith focused finance system.
And there will be a special discount for you podcast listeners that you will find in the show notes. And with that and in the show notes I will like include where to get the digital copy or the paperback copy of my book, Divine Abundance. So this closes out our five part strength series, everyone.
Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for walking this strength journey with me. We've talked about becoming strong in so many ways, and now I wanna encourage you to pick one of those areas to focus on right now. Maybe it's your mental strength. Maybe it's your emotional regulation. Maybe it's your physical health, spiritual depth, or your financial peace.
Choose one. Because when you constrain and commit to [00:22:00] growing stronger in that one area, something amazing happens. The others will begin to grow to, they're all connected, and as you rise in one, the other areas are lifted too. You don't have to do it all. Do not choose overwhelm. You just have to pick and start.
And I'll be here. I'm here if you need me any step of the way. Here's to your strength, mamas here's to your peace. Peace of mind.
And until next time, may peace be with you always. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Peaceful Mind Podcast. If you found value in today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you could subscribe and leave a review.
It not only supports the podcast, but ensures you don't miss out on future episodes packed with insights and tools to create peace of mind in your busy mom life. And if you're of the Catholic faith, like me or [00:23:00] any Christian mom seeking to feel better in any area of your life and to show up more calm, connected, and confident, I can help become an empowered mom who knows how to bring about the changes you desire, no matter the circumstances.
Whether you need one-on-one guidance to get there, prefer a group coaching program with like-minded women, or a self-study course I've got you covered. Explore my private one-on-one packages. Join my Busy to Balanced group life coaching program or delve into my signature course Divine Time. To find out which path is right for you, let's meet and see what's the best fit.
Schedule a free call with me at daniellethinel.com or send me a direct message on Facebook or Instagram @daniellethienelcoaching. And also don't forget to get your copy of my book, the Cyclone Mom Method, How to Call on Your God-Give Power to Remain Calm, In Control, and [00:24:00] Confident as a Busy Mom. Dive into the digital and bonus audio version when you go to book.daniellethienel.com/new-book.
You'll find all the details in the show notes too. Until next time, peace be with you always.
