How do you begin creating financial abundance when you’re struggling financially and stuck in scarcity?

The short answer is: You don’t! But you CAN set yourself up to be able to do it sooner than you think.

When it comes to the very natural human desire for security and stability, financial freedom is without a doubt one of the surest ways of attaining that peace of mind. But for many, including myself once upon a time, financial freedom can seem like an elusive dream… a long distance away from the current reality on the struggle bus!

I mean, who doesn’t want to go to bed knowing that they can afford to live their best life? Imagine being able to travel when you want to; afford whatever lifestyle you choose, support family, friends and even donate to a good cause or two. We all want some level of the freedom that money and wealth brings.

But what happens when, forget about financial freedom, your REALITY doesn’t even give you the freedom to choose where you live or what food you’re going to eat or when keeping the lights on is your biggest struggle and your biggest accomplishment? Who has time for manifesting wealth and prosperity when you live in the anxiety of wondering when your next eviction notice will be posted?

Why Manifesting Money Isn’t Enough When You’re Broke and Struggling Financially

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when it comes to debt and scarcity is NOT just the lack of money, it’s also the constant mental exhaustion. It’s how NOT having what you need makes you feel, affects the way you think about yourself and others and colours your view of the future so much that it can keep you too stuck to see a way out.

Scarcity affects decisions: The struggle bus often pushes us to make choices that make our financial problems worse because we default to living out of fear. Being anxious and thinking about lack all the time makes it hard to make decisions 

Scarcity affects relationships: I don’t know about you but struggling financially came with a deep sense of shame and a feeling of despair that I can’t quite describe.  It put a strain on many of my relationships and made me feel like I needed to self-isolate and “fix myself” before I could be worthy to take part in society again.

Scarcity and debt destroys sense of self-worth: The last thing you want to hear when you are grappling with your LACK, is that you can somehow MANIFEST your way out of poverty; and seeing others seemingly living their best life makes you wonder if there is something wrong with you or if you are not as smart, competent or deserving as other people are.

This negative internal focus when we are struggling creates a cycle that can keep us stuck. The cycle looks something like this:

>>STRUGGLE >> SHAME AND NEGATIVE SELF-TALK >> FEAR OF EVEN MORE FAILURE >> BAD DECISION MAKING >> MORE STRUGGLE >> MORE SHAME

Let me give you my real life example of this cycle:

• My business was STRUGGLING and my home life (as the bread-winner) was in shambles 
• I was too ashamed to reach out to family and friends and let them see that I was  really going through it 
• I began to think I am not cut out to be an entrepreneur and that I am doomed to be a failure (LIES I TELL YA, ALL LIES)
• The solutions I KNEW would help felt like I was giving up on myself and my dreams and so I didn’t pursue them (can someone say BAD DECISION?!)
• This led to more debt and more struggle 
• I started to isolate myself, stopped taking care of myself and my mental health declined SIGNIFICANTLY

In the midst of this deep battle I was facing, the LAST thing I wanted to hear was that I needed to MANIFEST wealth!!!!

Manifesting Money vs Wealth Embodiment

While I do strongly and firmly believe in the power of manifestation and affirmation in that particular space and time it is NOT what I needed. I was struggling with more than just MENTAL scarcity, I was really and truly experiencing a physical and financial scarcity. I needed a way out of debt. A way to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I needed a solution that was ROOTED in my reality.

In my quest to finally free myself from the cycle I was caught up in, I “accidentally” stumbled into a deeper understanding of the delicate balance and difference between MANIFESTING and EMBODYING the solutions I needed. 

Manifestation taught me to think and affirm my way out of poverty; but embodiment demanded that I needed to BE and DO things that align with someone that is able to come out of poverty.

Embodiment required me to have very hard discussions with myself to unpack my frozen stories, to confront the decisions that led me to where I was and to act out very practically, the new beliefs and decisions that I needed to align to, to get me out of my situation.

I learned that even positive affirmations like “I attract opportunity” and “an avalanche of financial abundance is heading my way” STILL had the undercurrent of lack; because the energy behind those affirmations were firstly, PASSIVE, and secondly focused on all the EXTERNAL circumstances that would need to somehow fall into place in order to correct the situation I was in. 

As I dug deeper into embodiment principles, I saw that what I needed was to shift from the idea that I “needed to attract more money” to taking responsibility for getting out of debt. My affirmations moved from “I attract abundant opportunity” to “I have the tools I need to create and use opportunities” and “I have the resources and skills to get out of my situation” and finally “I am capable of achieving true financial freedom.”  

If you’re finding yourself in a similar loop to where I was, perhaps it’s time to have the hard talk and consider getting yourself OUT of your lack cycle.

First Money Steps When You Can’t Make Ends Meet (So You Can Start Building Wealth Later)

Let’s be honest, the way you currently deal with money is what got you into the situation you’re in right now but dwelling on it or beating yourself up about it is not going to make anything better. What WILL bring peace and security though, is adopting a NEW approach that tackles your money woes from all angles, gives you a sense of stability and gives you a firm foundation to launch from. 

Step 1: Realistic Money Strategies

This was the hardest step for me because I had begun to think of money strategies as an admission of failure rather than correctly seeing it as a tool in my arsenal that I could whip out and use for my benefit. 

In case you do not hear this anywhere else, let me tell you today: 

!!!!! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH GETTING A JOB OR SIDE HUSTLE TO HELP YOU GET OUT OF DEBT, TO HELP YOU FEEL SAFE OR TO HELP FINANCE YOUR FUTURE DREAM !!!!

A dream delayed is not necessarily a dream discarded.

Your journey out of “survival mode” begins with addressing the immediate financial stress—

• Create a budget and train yourself to stick to it 
• Increase your income through jobs or side hustles
• Developing a debt management plan and
• Be consistent

Step 2: Add somatic practices

Once you have a plan in place to manage immediate and pressing financial stress, it’s time to delve into somatic practices. Remember what I said about the difference between manifesting and embodiment? Somatic techniques such as grounding, visualization, and body awareness can help you shift the feeling of being trapped by finances and clear up the head and body space you need to begin to LIVE OUT exactly what freedom from debt and financial stress looks like for you. 

Somatic practices are what I used to help me map out my daily, weekly and monthly activities, practices and goals and guided me through the anxiety, fear and worry I had been experiencing.

Step 3: Begin Embodying Wealth

As stability grows, so does the ability to focus more on embodying wealth. This doesn’t just mean accumulating more money. In fact, for some, money might be the very last piece of what WEALTH means. 

Wealth embodiment is about nurturing a sense of security, freedom, and abundance that becomes your default setting. It is about developing the mindsets, frameworks and practices you can use to keep coming back to your image of wealth. This eliminates the fear of returning to the old struggle-bus because you know exactly how to get off that ride.

Resources like the “Wealth Embodiment Toolkit” can provide valuable guidance, tools, practices and experiences for you when you are ready to start your embodiment adventure.

Embodying wealth is a journey of both financial discipline and emotional growth. By combining practical financial steps with somatic practices, you can transform your relationship with money and pave the way for a richer, more abundant YOU.