Wellness is more than skin deep
One of the biggest myths about self-care is that it’s a luxury. Don’t believe the hype. Wellness has been promoted as lavish spa treatments, expensive facial creams and exotic vacations, when in reality, it’s mundane activities like allowing yourself to sleep in on the weekends and unfollowing social media accounts that make you feel bad. Sure it can be pretty pricey to pay for a therapist, sign up for a gym and stock up on healthy food, but financial wellness isn’t how much you spend on wellness – it’s about the wellbeing of your finances.
It’s hard to feel good when your finances aren’t looking good. The stress can even take a toll on your health and unfortunately, some financial situations might make it hard to get help. Don’t beat yourself up when it comes to things you can’t control, but by being more diligent about money management and mindfully spending within your means – you’ll be able to improve your financial health and prepare for a rainy day or emergencies. This is especially the case in today’s climate as we face the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn to plan better
- Being aware of what you have can truly empower you. Knowing how much money you have in your bank account can help you better manage what goes towards your expenses, such as bills, spend (your wants and desires) and savings – this can ultimately help you monitor your finances and identify how to improve it.
- Decide what your goal targets are for each category and stick to it – it’s better to be realistic in your targets, than idealistic, to make it more achievable.
- Create a yearly budget to track your expenses – there are a lot of tools that can help you with that, which we’ll share in future stories.
Contribute meaningfully to others
Once you have yourself and your family covered, it would be great to consider the community and those in need. You can allocate some of your finances for meaningful contributions (one-off or monthly) to charitable causes that you believe in – whether it’s geared to help those who are underprivileged, raise environmental awareness, find a cure or encourage the advancement of creative industries. The opportunities are plentiful and the choice is yours – go for a cause that reflects your passion and champion it! As Sam Smith’s Money On My Mind goes, “do it for the love – of yourself and others”.
