Scarcity thinking was holding me back

A personal reflection on scarcity thinking, fear, and what happened when I finally stopped letting fear make all my decisions for me.

Last year was a hard one for me and my family, financially. Some nights, I'd lie awake running numbers in my head. I'd spent years practicing an abundance mindset with great results – yet I still found myself in scarcity thinking when circumstances suddenly changed for us. Not because that thinking was wrong, but because I'd absorbed the version of an abundance mindset that says just think positive, just believe harder, don't dwell on the fear.

For me, that version didn't hold up under real pressure. Instead, what held up was the opposite – sitting with the fear instead of pushing past it and listening to my inner self.

One of the things that listening made impossible to ignore was my job. Until a couple of months ago, I was working in a toxic environment. You might have been there yourself – a manipulative colleague, a manager who is never around, and emotional demands that never seem to let up.

I’ll be completely honest with you and say that I was afraid to leave that job. My scarcity thinking was keeping me there.

So, what changed?

I drew a line around what I would put up with. I handed in my resignation and jumped out into the unknown. And what happened is that the world opened up for me. The stress lifted. New work found its way to me. My creativity came back. And so did my everyday sense of joy – the small, ordinary kind that work stress and scarcity thinking had been starving me of.

I’m absolutely not here to suggest that you act irresponsibly or chuck in your job without a plan. But I am here to advocate for the self that exists beneath all the stress that the world seems to throw at us so mercilessly of late.

I’ve always believed that I am the creator of my own destiny. When I was younger, I’d say that I didn’t want to win the lottery because I wanted to know what kind of financial success I could create for myself. These days, I wouldn’t say no to a windfall – who would? – but I still believe, deeply, in the capacity I have for creating the life that I want.

So, how do we get there? How do we create our own destiny?

There are some key steps to creating our own destiny.

The first, and most essential, is that we have to believe that we can – and will – create the life that we want. This can be so challenging if it feels like the world is pulling you this way and that, or if you feel like you’re trapped.

Wherever you are, start there. Sit with the fear, the discomfort. Listen to what it’s teaching you.

This is the bravest thing you can do.

For me, when I finally listened to my inner self – above and beyond the circumstances of my toxic job – I realised what mattered to me most: my integrity. I hold integrity dear. It matters to me more than fear, more than money, more than my job title or anything else. This realisation allowed me to resign and move on with a confidence born of belief in myself.

From that learning and deeper understanding of self, we can invite in the love. I know we are living in crazy times. But I also know that love is the basis of all that I am. Love is the basis of my security.

Finding safety in love

Scarcity thinking is a false alarm. It’s a survival mechanism that tells us we’re not safe. But if we can move ourselves towards a place of love, we can build the safety and security we crave. It starts with how we treat ourselves, and it spreads outwards from there, to the people around us, to the world.

For me, this movement towards love happens on both physical and mental levels. I practice yoga regularly, and I find that my time on the mat, breathing and returning to my body, helps ground me and return me to presence. Meditation, reading and writing all help ease me back into love.

I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t know what my future holds, or yours. But I do know that spinning downward in a spiral of scarcity thinking is not what I’m here to do.

Instead, I’m here to create the life that I want.

I am creating financial security

If any of these steps resonate with you, I encourage you to listen to our free meditation, ‘I am creating financial security.’ It encompasses these steps in powerful affirmations that will help you listen to your fears, learn from them and begin to trust yourself.

I hope this supports you in the journey of coming home to yourself. And in building the life that you want.

Categories: : Meditation, Abundance