“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” – Proverbs 31:25
One of the biggest shifts in my life has been steadily stepping into entrepreneurship and embracing fiscal responsibility. Every day, I learn something new about money—and here’s the truth: money is not a bad word. It’s actually a powerful tool and far more than just a way to pay bills. It can fund dreams, create security, and open doors to freedom.
There’s an old saying: “People perish for lack of knowledge and vision.” That resonates deeply with me. Many of us, if we’re honest, approach money in a hand-to-mouth way because we lack a clear vision for what to do with it. Years ago, I took time to pray and reflect on the vision for my life—not as a wife or mom, but as a woman.
That moment set a series of changes in motion. I realized I didn’t want another purse or more ill-fitting clothes. I wanted purpose, impact, and abundance—but without vision, those things felt out of reach. I don’t feel that so much now. I am in a space of looking around and seeing what life has to offer and being grateful for what is there. There is alot and I will be sharing lots of resources and initiatives from my home state.
The Reality for Women and Money
Here’s why this conversation matters:
After divorce, women’s household income drops by an average of 41%, compared to 23% for men.
Nearly 56% of women defer financial decisions to their spouse, leaving them vulnerable when life changes.
Financial literacy among women lags behind men—only 52% of women demonstrate strong financial knowledge compared to 62% of men.
These numbers are sobering, especially when you consider that many women have never opened a bill or managed household finances until a major life event forces them to. But here’s the good news: awareness is the first step toward empowerment.
Gratitude and Growth
My biggest attitude is gratitude. Life will hand you lemons—but you can keep squeezing out lemonade. These are the years to change it all. Whether you’re starting a business, learning to invest, or simply creating a budget, every step you take toward financial literacy is a step toward freedom.
Your Call to Action
Don’t wait for life to force you into financial independence—start today. Create a vision for your money. Learn, plan, and grow. Because when women have knowledge and vision, we don’t just survive—we thrive.
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
This was my lowkey Italian themed holiday. Believe it or not, everything was not shown in the picture—and it was under $100. That should make anyone who feels they need to break the bank this holiday season smile deep down on the inside. I created the event in this way to demonstrate that the Thanksgiving holiday is about love and communion—not long suffering. I’m thankful that I did it.
I love Thanksgiving and this one was no different. I opted to do something small at home, and it was probably the most laid back dinner with my kiddos, I’ve ever had. I used to have my judgey glasses on when people would opt to spend a holiday apart from their family, but now I get it. Not to cheapen it, but it’s a meal. Albeit a grand and commemorative one, it’s still a meal overall.
I know when you think of Thanksgiving you don’t think of Italy, but how many holidays have you run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to make foods that half of the people in attendance won’t even like?
Exactly.
That’s what I think of when I consider all of the turkey eating and wasting. Yet, when I mention that I don’t like turkey, people often want to believe it’s because I need it cooked a different way. Actually it’s simply not my forte.
In fact nearly 35% of Americans dislike turkey. That’s a lot. Consider what you are actually doing, you’re partaking in an event where you’re forced to pretend (you don’t like turkey or your Uncle Bob) and then grin and bear it for the sake of family. This is the perpetuation of suffering. I don’t know what’s worse, little kids having to answer the question of “how’s school?” a million times, or eating bad potato salad until I bust.
What I will say about this Thanksgiving is that it may have been lowkey but there were days of leftovers and the kids liked everything on the table. This is a win for mitigating food waste in our household. Studies have shown that approximately 312 million pounds of food will be wasted this holiday. Considering the overall high cost of food and the impact of food waste on the environment, it may be time to reconsider how we celebrate with food this holiday season.
While it’s safe to say that you don’t want too many holidays to pass without seeing your elderly family members and chuckle over some dried out bird and boxed stuffing—it’s equally ok to sit one out from time to time.
The Most Positive Thing Of All
Overall, the most positive thing to come out of this year was me regaining my voice, strength and my light.
Over the years, and for a variety of reasons, I’ve lost a lot of the things that made me sparkle and shine. Anyone can lose them when you fail to be honest about how you feel and take action towards resolving things that no longer serve you. When you don’t you are only left with a mound of complaints, no solutions, and fewer opportunities to get it right.
There are seemingly a great many barriers to happiness. However, putting all things into perspective, puts all things into perspective. It makes you think about what is it you really want. What do you really want to be doing? What really makes me happy or would make me happy right now? A lot of times we give a knee jerk answer instead of putting our thoughts through the fire and monitoring our actions.
That’s what I did this year.
I didn’t just say —I want this! I like this! I had to exorcise all the junk and things I did not like from my consciousness over a period of months, unlearn some bad behaviors, and consider my true feelings.
Do you know how you truly feel about things? When it gets quiet, if you have the luxury of stillness, do you remember who you are? I believe we come in this life knowing who we are and then we forget and then it becomes a fight of a lifetime to recall all of the things that made you sparkle.
Today’s Spiritual Foundation For Leadership
This Thanksgiving I was thankful for finding the love of my life—me. It’s been so long since I’ve met up with myself it’s been like discovering a twin flame connection. This reconnection with my lost and forgotten self has created a peace and wholeness within me. It’s not only made me question a lot of decisions I’ve made in the past, but has brought about a newfound hope for the future.
No one in life can wave a magic wand and make all of our problems go away over night. But, wouldn’t it be great to know that you could begin to do that for yourself. First, accept your life. Accept where you are. Accept who you are and seek to find comfort with the circumstances of your existence. If you can find gratitude in the small things, you can count on the blessings of good things coming around the corner.
If we are beautifully and wonderfully made, then we are made to be love, give love, receive love, and to reflect it out into the world. You can only do this by telling the truth, accepting the truth, changing it if necessary, and then living it.
I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~ Bill Cosby
The quickest way to your downfall is trying to please others by any means necessary. Don’t despise humble beginnings or humble moments. Those are the moments where we have the ability to rediscover ourselves and design a life of truth and significant meaning.
