What Emotions Come Up When You Think About Money?

legacywomanusa
Jun 11
3 min read

When I think about money, I don’t just think about dollars and cents. I think about my childhood.

I grew up in Haiti, and to be honest, I didn’t really understand what a traditional job was until I was around 15 or 16 years old.

Everyone around me was an entrepreneur in some way. They were hustling, creating opportunities, and finding ways to provide for their families. I watched my mother do whatever it took to make sure we had what we needed. She opened a restaurant. She cooked food to sell. She woke up early to wash clothes for people. She cleaned homes. She found products to sell in the market. If there was a way to make money, she found it.

That’s what I knew.

I didn’t grow up watching people clock in at 9 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m. I grew up watching people create income from their skills, their hands, and their determination.

The only person I knew with what I thought was a “professional job” was my father. I knew he was a lawyer. I knew he helped people with legal matters. But I didn’t understand the structure of employment, paychecks, benefits, promotions, or careers.

What I understood was simple:

If you work, you eat.

If you don’t work, life gets hard.

Money was never about status. Money was survival.

As a child, I watched my mother make miracles out of almost nothing. She always found a way. Looking back, I realize that she taught me resilience, resourcefulness, and entrepreneurship long before I knew those words.

When I moved to the United States, I got my first job at McDonald’s at 18 years old. For the first time, I experienced what it meant to go to school, go to work, wait for a paycheck, and repeat the cycle every two weeks.

But because of how I grew up, I didn’t fully understand money beyond one thing:

Money was a tool.

A tool to pay bills.

A tool to buy what you need.

A tool to avoid struggle.

I had seen firsthand what happened when families didn’t have enough money. I had seen the stress, the arguments, the limitations, and the pain that poverty can create. Because of that, I always desired financial stability—not for luxury, but for peace.

I also believe that’s why entrepreneurship has always been part of my story.

For years, I struggled to stay in traditional jobs because my mind was wired differently. I would ask myself, “Why am I working so many hours to earn this amount of money when I have ideas that could create more?”

It wasn’t that work was beneath me.

It was that I didn’t understand the structure.

I didn’t understand that a job could be a tool just like a business is a tool.

As an adult, I see things differently now.

I understand that there is wisdom in both. A full-time job can provide stability, income, experience, and opportunities while you build your dreams. Entrepreneurship can create freedom, impact, and generational wealth. They don’t have to compete with one another.

Today, when I think about money, I don’t think about getting rich.

I think about stewardship.

I think about providing for my family.

I think about creating opportunities for my children.

I think about building a legacy.

And I think about healing the beliefs and fears around money that many of us carry without realizing it.

So I’ll ask you the same question I had to ask myself:

What emotions come up when you think about money?