You Don’t Have to Stay Stuck In Scarcity

Let’s talk about the scarcity mindset. All the little ingrained beliefs that we tell ourselves on a daily basis. Before we dive in, let’s also imagine that our individual reality answers all the questions we ask all the time. If we believe that, then we can also realize how detrimental some of the things we repeat to ourselves truly are. Questions like Why am I so lonely? Why doesn’t anyone like me? Why can’t I do anything right? Even statements like I’m so tired, I’m depressed, I don’t feel good, I’m so broke, I’m cursed, I’m not creative, I’m so busy, " and " Always expect the worst because then you’ll never be

disappointed. There are also those statements that we have heard repeated over and over again that have an impact, but are absolutely not true- Money is the root of evil, Money corrupts, Good things come to those who wait.” You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. What’s the worst that could happen? And it couldn’t get any worse.

Do any of those sound familiar in your life? You are not alone, and once you start seeing these little thoughts and beliefs pop up, you’ll begin to see them everywhere and in everyone. What needs to happen to shift our reality? Well, we first need to change the narrative. Just by constantly changing these thoughts around, and definitely not saying them aloud, comes first. The next step is to envision who we are without the belief as completely as possible, and take action.

A little about me, and mind you, this is ongoing work, but I can guarantee you if I hadn’t started doing the internal work, I wouldn’t be here. Plus If I don’t continue to shift my limiting beliefs, I won’t continue to grow. I know those little buggers are still there, starving beneath the surface, which is why self-reflection is so important. These beliefs usually start very young as we adopt the convictions of those around us. That is why if you're born into money and the beliefs around money in your family are positive,  you probably will always be rich. The opposite can be said about being born into poverty, where the concept around money is never enough, and negative, you will probably always be poor. Even if large amounts of money and success come into your life, you will likely lose it due solely to your beliefs and expectations. We can see this in lottery winners and famous people who came from nothing. How can you make millions of dollars and still end up in debt? How can rich people go bankrupt and then have it all back in a few years? The expectation that surrounds poor people on a deep level is that they are unworthy or that it's impossible.  The other side is true, too; rich people can’t imagine a reality where they are poor, so they aren’t.

As a child, the talk of having barely enough was always in the air. Down to the last few dollars every paycheck, and my parents were always worried. We had enough for our basic needs and not much else. There was also plenty of talk about greed. Plus, the idea that money was the root of all evil had definitely been scratched in my brain. Be grateful for what you have was prevalent, but it was almost a sin to ask for more. Why would you need more when the basics are met?  As I entered adulthood, the same patterns began unfolding. I seemed able to always have just enough to have my basic needs met, but nothing more. I disliked money and the hold it had over my life. I wasn’t interested in more, and I thought that made me down to earth. Really, though, the belief surrounding being ultra successful didn’t even seem like a possibility, so why think on it? That could never be me. 

Now I’m not saying I have reached some ultra-successful stage yet, but I will. Once I learned that my own thoughts were creating my reality and keeping me stuck in a box, I began to experiment, especially with thoughts on business and money, but the same can be applied to love and relationships.  I stopped asking myself why I was so poor and telling people I was poor. Some aspect was missing, though, which was action. Changing your thoughts and making the decision to change will help, but then you have to embody that new version of yourself, as if it has already happened.

You're lonely and want a relationship. First stop, affirming how lonely you are, changing the belief to I’m so connected and popular. Then really go deep on what that would look like in your life. What does this new popular, well-connected, and social person look like? How do they dress? What are their daily routines? What does their house look like, and what activities do they enjoy? How do they speak? For me, in relation to growing my business, I doubled, reaching my income goals last year. I have even larger goals this year. To reach those goals, I have to adopt that future version of myself and start acting from that place now. How does a person who makes 100k a year as a spiritual coach and online yoga instructor act? Dress? Spend money on? What does my house look like? How much time do  I spend working? etc.

It’s that leap of faith put into action that will bring forth my change. By behaving as if it's already happened, I’m literally programming reality to have no option but to behave the way I see it. Does this seem impossible to me? No, I have everything set up to allow the shift to happen. Do I still get stuck in false beliefs? Yes, but they just make things take longer. That is ok, I know I am not giving up, and it will happen. The hardest thing is not slipping back into the scarcity version of myself, which I do occasionally when things appear to be going wrong. When that happens, I can immediately see things start to go downhill,  loss of money, random bills, things just start to snowball because that is how I have always seen them going. However, since I have seen the other side, it’s almost just proof to the pudding that I am the one creating my life by my beliefs and actions. So, I just keep doing my best to act like the future version of myself that I want to see, and have complete faith that I will catch up to her soon.

Nicole Young