I used to be that person who would open their banking app with one eye shut, like it was a horror movie jump scare. 🫣 Spoiler: it usually was. At one point I was $90,000 in debt. Ninety. Thousand. Dollars. The kind of number that makes your chest tighten and your brain whisper, “Maybe we fake our own death and move to Costa Rica?”

And yet here I am, sitting in my house by the beach, drinking iced coffee that I didn’t have to put on a credit card, writing this post about how I went from panic-shopping at Walmart to peace-shopping for wave-proof patio furniture.

So what changed?

Not the numbers at first. Not the income. Not some magical side hustle where I suddenly made 10K a month teaching iguanas to meditate. (Though… maybe that’s my retirement plan?)

What changed was my inner world.

When “Working Harder” Isn’t the Answer

I tried all the things people tell you to do:

• Make a strict budget (which I ignored the second someone said “happy hour”).
• Hustle more (which just left me burned out and buying more takeout).
• Shame myself into better habits (which worked zero percent of the time).

Here’s the truth nobody told me: your outer money world will never stabilize if your inner world is a tornado of fear, self-doubt, and “I’m not good with money” lies.

Once I stopped trying to duct-tape my life together with spreadsheets and instead started rewiring how I thought and felt about money, everything shifted.

The Nervous System Knows

It’s not just mindset — it’s neuroscience. Your nervous system doesn’t care about your five-year financial plan. It cares about safety. If your body is constantly in fight-or-flight, money feels like danger. So what do you do? Self-sabotage. Avoid. Procrastinate. Scroll Zillow at 2 a.m. looking at houses you “could never afford.”

When I finally started regulating my nervous system — grounding exercises, breathwork, journaling, even just talking to myself like I wasn’t garbage — I stopped spiraling. My body calmed down. My brain had space to see possibilities.

That’s when I began making better money choices naturally. Not out of guilt or punishment, but out of alignment.

The Fun Part: Building Wealth Without Losing Myself

From there, my world changed fast:

• I paid down the $90K mountain of debt.
• I started setting money goals that felt exciting, not suffocating.
• I bought my house by the beach (the dream life I once thought was reserved for influencers named “Kiki” with tiny dogs).

And no, it wasn’t perfect. I still had days where I cried into a pint of Chunky Monkey about my credit score. But I kept going, kept healing, kept choosing gentle prosperity over grind-culture scarcity.

Why I’m Sharing This With You

I want you to know this isn’t just some woo-woo story. This is practical, messy, and sometimes shame-excavating work that got healed because I wouldn’t let myself stop. If you’re staring down what feels like insurmountable debt, avoiding your bank account or bills, or just tired of the same cycle, you don’t need another budget app. You need a shift inside.

That’s exactly why I created The Gentle Path to Prosperity 5-Day Challenge. It’s the same process that helped me stop drowning in debt and start building the life I used to dream about. No shame. No jargon. Just small, doable steps to rewire your inner world for abundance.

If you’re ready to stop running from your bank app and start building your version of a “beach house” dream, come join me here, it’s free, it’s gentle, and it just might change everything.