If we’re being frank, money has been a source of stress for most of my adult life. Even after the stereotypical broke college kid phase (I once paid for a $4 smoothie entirely in quarters), I didn’t come into a windfall when I started working. (In hindsight, all of my professors saying no one gets into PR for the money should have been a bigger red flag).
It’s nothing devastating of course, just necessitates a strict budget and some delayed gratification for the finer things in life. Since leaving last year, not having the stable income was less of a problem since we were in the middle of a pandemic and no one could really go anywhere or buy much anyway (I did not go through an Amazon hoarding phase at the start of the pandemic for moral and budget reasons.)
But I’ll be the first to admit, I like nice things and my taste doesn’t match up with my budget. And I want things. I have already disavowed minimalism, but I also love to buy new things. An internalization of the capitalist-driven, materialistic society I live in, yes of course. But I like it. And today I will not apologize for it.
But in my own business, I struggle to come up with financial goals that mean anything to me, that are more than just some arbitrary number written on a page. If I have never made much money and have always been fine, I struggle to envision or ~manifest~ the feeling of making more money. I struggle to find motivation in these numbers written on a page, because they are just that. They have no emotional resonance for me, and I find no comfort in them.
But you know what I do resonate with? Buying things.
If we frame the conversation in terms of things I can buy with more money, suddenly a fire sparks in my chest. I can talk about things I want to buy all day.
So here, in no particular order, are a list of things I would like to buy that inspire me to make more money:
- A bigger desk
- A comfortable desk chair
- A large computer monitor
- A Bluetooth keyboard
- A small filing cabinet
- 2 pairs of cotton jeans
- New bodysuits
- A new sweater
- A new pair of shoes
- A manicure
- Starbucks
- A new sander
- Wood for a raised garden bed
- Soil for a raised garden bed
- Books
- A new hiking backpack
- A Kindle
- Artwork
- A new piece of glass to smoke out of
- A set of pots
- Expensive sheets
- Frames for my prints
- Heating pad
- A set of wine glasses
- Several bottle of wine
- A bottle of 1911 Honeycrisp vodka
- 2 swimsuits
- A pair of diamond studs
- A pair of handmade earrings
- A set of silver rings
- A massage
- A seaweed wrap
- A facial
- A microderm facial
- The entirety of my bachelorette party
- A wedding dress
- Michael’s ring
- Regular haircuts every 12 weeks
- Organic meat
- A big sunhat
- A nice robe
- Silk pillowcases