Money as a Current: Rewrite Your Money Story and Build Financial Confidence
TL;DR: Money moves like water sometimes rushing, sometimes pooling, sometimes slowing into stillness. When fear or shame dam the flow, scarcity grows. But when we let it circulate with clarity, adaptability, leadership, and momentum, money stops being proof of our worth and starts being a rhythm of care, creativity, and community. Survival counts as flow, generosity sustains ecosystems, and every choice is a chance to rewrite your money story.
Currency is a word we use for both water and money. Currents in a river, tides in the ocean. Paychecks, invoices, bank transfers. Same word, same truth: both are meant to move.
Flow isn’t the opposite of stillness. Flow includes the quiet pools, the slow bayous, the reservoirs that hold water until it’s needed. In the same way, money in motion nourishes communities, while money at rest can nourish peace of mind, security, or a bigger vision. Both are part of the same rhythm.
But where things get heavy is when the pause comes from fear instead of intention. That’s when the current turns murky—when money is clenched too tightly, when guilt muddies the water, when scarcity stories cloud the flow. Those aren’t just numbers in your bank account; they’re money blocks. And they show up in all kinds of ways:
A creative undercharges because her scarcity mindset whispers, “If you charge your worth, no one will hire you.”
An artist apologizes the moment she sells a painting—classic money shame.
A freelancer avoids opening the banking app, a kind of financial infidelity with themselves.
A writer blurs money boundaries, piling on “extras” until she’s exhausted.
A musician hoards a grant in fear, instead of letting it sustain her work.
Each of these moments is really the same question in disguise: What’s my money story, and how do I rewrite it?
I know, because I’ve lived it.
Years ago, I took a beach trip with almost nothing in my bank account. The only thing that kept me moving was a wad of client cash stuffed in my pocket. That money paid for gas to get me there and back. It wasn’t security, it was survival. But it taught me something about money mindset: even survival counts as flow. Pricing my value even just enough was the only reason I could keep moving.
For years, I believed charging my worth was “too much.” That’s a money block almost every creative entrepreneur faces. We think sustainable income for creatives is about some magic number, but really it’s about sufficiency, naming enough. Enough to get there. Enough to come back. Enough to move forward. That’s how you begin to heal money shame.
Fast forward to the pandemic. The Front Porch Project became its own river. Neighbors gave what they could, I showed up with my camera, and together we poured $1.28 million back into the Baton Rouge economy. The lesson?
Receiving money with ease isn’t selfish. It’s circulation. Every dollar flowed outward again: groceries bought, bills paid, small businesses supported, art sustained. That’s a prosperity mindset in action. Not clutching. Not apologizing. Just letting money flow.
Through both stories, I saw what so many of us struggle to name: money isn’t proof of your worth. It’s a current. When it circulates, it sustains you and the ecosystem around you. When it stagnates in fear or guilt, it breeds scarcity.
This is where Creative Adaptive Intelligence (CAI) comes in, not as a lifeboat, but as a way of reading the river.
CAI is the practice of moving with uncertainty the way water does.
Water doesn’t ask for guarantees before it moves. It doesn’t stop at a rock and say, “Well, I guess that’s it for me.” It bends. It swirls. Sometimes it slows into a quiet bayou, sometimes it rages into rapids, sometimes it disappears underground only to reemerge miles later.
That’s what it means to move with uncertainty. Not controlling the tide, not predicting every twist in the river, just staying in motion, trusting that flow is still flow even when it doesn’t look the way you expected.
That’s Creative Adaptive Intelligence.
Clarity is knowing if the water is clear or cloudy—naming your money story out loud.
Adaptability is the bend of the river—redirecting when obstacles show up, instead of giving up.
Leadership is the banks—the values and money boundaries that shape the current.
Momentum is the tide itself—the rhythm that keeps you in motion, even when the flow slows down.
Think about it: when you lower your prices out of fear, isn’t that damming the current? When you apologize for being paid, isn’t that muddying the flow? When you hide your spending or give away too much, isn’t that the water stagnating?
CAI doesn’t give you the answers, it gives you the practices. It’s the intelligence of noticing the current, trusting the tide, and remembering you can redirect the flow without losing yourself in it.
And here’s the freedom: when money flows, it stops being proof of your worth. It becomes something else entirely, a rhythm of give and receive, of care and creativity in motion.
Baton Rouge friends!
On October 9th (3–4 PM), I’ll be leading The Currency of Clarity: How Values Redefine Money + Creative Successat the Louisiana Arts Summit (River Center Branch Library).
This isn’t a quick-fix money talk. It’s a space to return to yourself. We’ll explore how values, boundaries, and creativity reshape the way money moves in your life and work. Think of it less like a lecture, more like a hands-on conversation.
Grab your ticket here and join me for an afternoon of clarity, connection, and a new way of seeing your relationship with money.
