#125: Vicky Reynal — Financial Therapy for Creatives, Balancing Art & Income, Financial Resilience, Writing Non-Fiction
Dec 28, 2024
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Vicky Reynal, a psychotherapist and author of "Money on Your Mind," discusses the surprising emotional ties that influence creatives' financial decisions. She shares insights on how understanding belief systems around money can lead to better choices. Vicky emphasizes the need for a balanced perspective between creativity and financial stability, especially for writers. The conversation touches upon cultural attitudes toward wealth, the emotional complexities in publishing, and practical strategies for fostering resilience and community in artistic endeavors.
Understanding personal beliefs about money is essential for creatives to manage financial decisions without compromising their artistic integrity.
Financial emotional awareness enables individuals to recognize and question the motivations behind their spending habits for healthier financial practices.
The writing journey can empower personal growth, illustrating the importance of feedback and flexibility in the creative process for authors.
Deep dives
Understanding Financial Well-Being
Financial well-being is fundamentally about the sense of control over financial choices rather than the amount of money one possesses. This emotional aspect emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and understanding personal attitudes toward money, which greatly influences feelings of calmness or anxiety regarding finances. Vicky Raynal, a psychologist specializing in financial therapy, highlights that deep-rooted emotional issues can often manifest in financial behaviors, such as a fear of abandonment leading to overspending. By examining these underlying emotions, individuals can better manage their financial decisions and operate from a place of awareness rather than fear.
The Role of Emotional Awareness
Developing financial emotional awareness allows individuals to understand how their feelings drive financial decisions, thus enabling them to make more mindful choices. This involves recognizing patterns of overspending or underspending and questioning the motivations behind these behaviors. For example, a person might buy lavish gifts to mask feelings of inadequacy, while another may avoid spending due to a history of financial deprivation. By identifying these triggers, individuals can cultivate healthier financial habits and reduce feelings of guilt or shame associated with their spending.
Money and Creativity
The relationship between money and creativity is complex, as many creatives grapple with the dual nature of financial success, which often brings both validation and constraints. Raynal discusses how some artists view financial gain as a threat to their creative integrity, fearing that it might compromise their artistic freedom. Addressing these perceptions involves exploring personal beliefs about money that may stem from past experiences or cultural backgrounds. By reframing the narrative around money, creatives can embrace the idea that making a living from their art does not detract from its value, but instead can enhance their ability to pursue their passion.
Identifying Financial Behaviors
Raynal emphasizes that recognizing and understanding one's financial behaviors is crucial for achieving a healthier relationship with money. She suggests that journaling about spending decisions can help individuals unpack the emotions connected to their financial choices. By asking questions about prior feelings leading to a purchase or the motivations behind financial decisions, individuals can gain insight into their spending habits. This reflective practice not only raises self-awareness but also encourages more intentional spending based on informed choices rather than impulse.
The Publishing Process and Personal Growth
The journey of writing and publishing a book has been a transformative experience for Raynal, allowing her to confront fears and develop new skills. Through her process, she discovered that organizing the book around relatable behaviors rather than strict academic structures was key to engaging readers. Collaboration with her editor provided valuable feedback, illustrating that constructive criticism can enhance the writing experience and shape the narrative effectively. This journey also highlights the importance of allowing oneself to evolve through creativity, signaling that writing and self-exploration can often intertwine to foster personal growth.
Financial therapist and writer Vicky Reynal on how creatives can better understand our belief systems around money and what tools we can turn to when making hard decisions around money.
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ABOUT VICKY REYNAL
Vicky Reynal is a psychotherapist, and runs her own clinic in London specialising in financial therapy. She has a weekly column in the Daily Mail answering reader’s money dilemmas. Her book "Money on Your Mind: the Psychology behind your Financial Habits" won the MAIA Best Book Award in 2024.