It was a beautiful, balmy autumn in San Diego. Life was good. Or so I thought. I had a successful private practice as a massage therapist and shaman, a cute girlfriend, a cat I adored, and a nice roof over my head. Things were about to get real ugly, real fast.

Suddenly, and for no reason I could see, my business took a serious, freakish nose dive. My schedule went from 25 clients each week to just 7 within days. As you can imagine, my income evaporated, while my bills stayed the same.

At the same time, my cat was experiencing a medical mystery that was costing me an arm and a leg. I had no savings or emergency fund, so all the vet visits, medications and the barrage of tests were being paid for with credit cards, putting me further into debt.

On top of it all, I woke up one morning feeling like someone had taken a pair of pliers to my teeth. The good news was, my girlfriend at the time was a dental assistant and her boss was able to fit me in that afternoon. The bad news was, he told me I needed a root canal and three crowns.

The dark clouds of financial disaster looming nearby suddenly closed in. I lay awake at night tormented by thoughts of becom-ing homeless. I’d been homeless once, years before.  It was one of the worst times in my life, and not one I  ever want to repeat.

The week after my dental appointment was filled with a sense of doom and bleak uncertainty about my future. As a spiritual person, I did what a lot of people do when their backs are up against the wall. I prayed. If you can call it that! My prayers sounded a lot more like begging than solemn words of faith.

As the days of my financial nightmare dragged on, I kept asking myself, Why is this happening to me? At first, I blamed everything but myself—life, bad luck, the Universe. But as I took a deeper look and was more honest with myself, it became harder to ignore the truth: I had created this predicament. My question then became How did I get here?

When I finally owned my part in creating my reality—when I realized that I was responsible for the results I was getting, and that it all could have been avoided had I taken the time to learn—things started turning around. I realized my relationship with money wasn’t healthy. I knew my life with money had to change, but I just didn’t have a clue where to start. No one had ever taught me how to manage money. Until that moment, I had never been motivated enough to do anything about it. Nothing like a crisis to get you going!

A couple of weeks of sleepless nights later, I went to the library to return some books. While there, I serendipitously came across an audio book about personal finances that intrigued me, so I checked it out and took it home.

Within the first hour of listening to that audio book, I experienced an epiphany: I realized I was a recipient of Divine Intervention. Shivers coursed through my body as I realized my prayers had been answered. Not only had my prayers been answered, but unbeknownst to me, my life, and my relationship with money, was about to change dramatically.

As I listened to the audio book, I learned how to be responsible with my money (the simple nuts and bolts of managing it). I also learned the steps I needed to take to create a brighter financial future. From that day forward, I read books and took courses from various financial counselors, implementing the strategies that resonated with me.

I used to think "budget" was a four-letter word in disguise, but now I embraced the practice wholeheartedly. What I once saw as a hindrance to enjoying my money, I now saw as a tool—a roadmap to financial prosperity and security. I began to meticulously track my expenses, with eye-opening results that led me to shift my spending priorities to reflect my newfound, healthier financial mindset.

I was surprised at how much my outlook on life immediately changed just by making the decision to take control of my finances.
My depression vanished instantly. Within a few months, I started seeing real progress. My debt slowly started to shrink, and I even managed to set aside a small emergency fund. I felt a renewed sense of control and purpose.

My practice began to flourish again, and the peace of mind I achieved with money was absolutely priceless. Even though I had a ways to go, I was no longer living in fear about my finances.

My wake-up call shook the very foundation of my life like an earthquake, but it became the catalyst for a profound transformation in both my relationship with money and the overall quality of my life.

If you'd like to have the same kind of peace of mind that comes with financial mastery, I'd be happy to talk.