“April, how’s your green going?”
These are the words spoken by my business coach and mentor, Dorothy Spence. Green is “Dorothy speak” for self-care.
As excited as she is to hear about my business she stops me 20 minutes into our call and asks me what I have done since we last spoke by way of spending time and money on myself.
After what seems like an eternity I blurt out, “Well, I tore my MCL sledding and that slowed me down for a bit!”
Apparently taking a day off for a torn MCL doesn’t count as green.
I once had someone ask me if I ever sit down and relax. My mother tells me that my life exhausts her! My best friend said I should do a reality show, A Day in the Life of . . . except that no one would believe it wasn’t scripted.
But I love how I exchange my time for money. To me guiding people on their money journey does not feel like work. I come home after being with my clients and I have energy to spare. My family life is an active one and I love to be in the service of others it’s just who I am and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Being in the “Green” can mean different things for different people. For me being active, especially hiking and being outdoors, has always been about self care.
This realization has made a big shift in my money coaching practice. Before, I used to label self-care under personal grooming and identify it as one of the spending “traps”. I no longer feel that way. I understand the importance of spending consciously on self-care and I now ask my clients how we should build it into their spending plan.
Every April 19, the anniversary of my practice, I sit down with my own spending plan and review and revise my money goals. This year I am building self-care into my plan in a bigger way. I am building out time and money for my “green.”
Dorothy will be so proud!
