2009 Word-of-the-Year: WEALTH

Note: December is Word-of-the-Year Month at Christine’s Blog.  As we roll into another New Year, each day will feature a new guest author who chose one word as a way of setting intention for her whole year.  Today’s guest is Laura Mixon. More about Laura below.

This year – 2009 – was my second experience using a word to guide my intentions and actions.

The word I chose for 2008 was “Organization.” And its positive impact is still evident in my life. No one has yet to mistake me for Martha Stewart, but I know where things are, and I no longer live with clutter in my space.

That experience gave me the courage to really step out of my comfort zone in choosing my word for 2009.

I went where properly educated Southern women are not supposed to go. I went where my academic colleagues and I are not supposed to go.

In other words, I decided to want what I wanted.  And the thing that I wanted – according to my upbringing – is not something one discusses in polite society.

I gritted my teeth. I closed my eyes.  And I chose my word.

I chose “Wealth.”

To strengthen the power of my own intention, I invested a significant chunk of change in this incredible investment opportunity – one that promised multiplied returns.

That investment was in me – for a year-long coaching program.

So, what would possess a nice, educated woman, mother of three, to do such a thing?

Here’s the short story:

Unlike people you read about in “rags to riches” stories, I was not born into a poor family. Quite the opposite. I learned to drive in my father’s new model Mercedes. I won’t bore you with more details, but it was a plush lifestyle; one I assumed was my birthright.

And what I learned from my plush lifestyle was this:

I learned that there were two ways to acquire wealth: from your family or your husband.

So Plan A, getting money from your family, failed along with my parents’ marriage – and my dad’s newfound refusal to include me in his generosity.

I was left with Plan B. Until that failed – along with my own marriage.

Now, I’ve always been aware that there is much prosperity on this planet. Yet for most of my life I’ve felt a deep frustration with barely making ends meet. Not that I have ever been technically in poverty. I just have always known that there is more out there to experience.

Last year I committed to not spending the rest of my life shrinking my desires, or waiting for something outside of me to save me.

And so I chose “Wealth.”

So imagine how delighted I was that just a few weeks after committing to wealth for 2009, I inherited a nice sum of money from an unknown wealthy relative, and married a millionaire.

Actually what happened was quite the opposite of my old Plan A & B.   I didn’t get the job I knew was mine. I lost the ad junct teaching position I had enjoyed for nine years, and I was unemployed for a short while.

(Be aware that choosing a word can bring challenges you’d rather not deal with. And that’s not a coincidence.)

The truth of my Wealth experience is much deeper than any of that. I don’t have the space to write it all, but here’s the Cliff Notes version:

• I saw some wealthy people in my family….with new eyes. I realized that if you have lots of digits in your bank account balance, and yet you live in daily fear that other people will overcharge you or somehow take advantage of you, that’s not really experiencing wealth.

• I got my dissertation done quickly, which stopped a hemorrhage of money to pay tuition.

• I got a great NEW job.

• I moved to the city of my dreams, and the move was mostly paid for by my new employer.

• I achieved what I thought wealth would do for me: I became relaxed about money. (Most of the time.)

• I started learning investment strategies.

• I started my own business.

• My kids got much happier as I stopped reacting to life with fear.

• I now save 10% of my gross income and significantly increased my charitable giving.

• I unexpectedly won several random contests. (Without even entering them!)

• I planted the seeds for multiple streams of income.

• I attracted an amazing group of wonderful clients; it is truly a privilege to work with these women!

The most important thing that came from the word “Wealth” is this:

I now have a “Plan C” : To create wealth for myself.

____________________

Laura Mixon, PhD, is a university professor in Charleston, SC.  Additionally, she has a private coaching practice and gives workshops that teach people how to be confident and savvy in making presentations and creating authentic success in their businesses and life. Click here to visit her blog.

Tagged as: christine kane, laura mixon, new years resolutions, wealth and money, wealth mindsets, word-of-the-year

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