Why You Still Struggle With Money

Even when you work hard, stay positive, and try to shift your mindset, this is the real reason it’s not changing.

You can be smart, awake, self-aware. You can have done the mindset work, written the affirmations, and stayed hopeful. And still, the money disappears, the fear creeps in, you feel the same panic at the end of the month, the same guilt when you spend, the same dread before checking your bank account. It doesn’t make sense, because technically you're managing, but inside, it’s chaos. You swing between trying to stay positive and secretly wondering if you’re just bad with money. But it’s not about the numbers. It’s not even about money. It’s about the nervous system.

This month inside Awakened Self Healers, we’re going deeper into this together. I’m hosting a live Zoom (16TH JUNE 8PM) for paid subscribers to finally untangle what’s really keeping people stuck—because no matter how much comes in, many still feel like it’s never enough, or that it’s not safe to keep it. Most people don’t realise their money story was written long before they ever had a job, a budget, or a card to tap. It wasn’t something they chose. It was modelled, absorbed, and stored in the body. That’s what we’re going to explore.

The Same Wound, A Different Mask

The reason money feels so hard to shift for many people is because the root wounds don’t always present in obvious ways. What shows up in your relationships as “I’m not good enough” might show up in your money story as “there’s never enough.” What shows up as people-pleasing in your day-to-day might become guilt every time you try to receive. The wound is the same, but money gives it a new costume.

Let’s take the scarcity wound. At its core, this is often linked to a fear of not existing, of not being supported, of being forgotten or left behind. But it doesn’t always show up as literal poverty. Sometimes it shows up in the person who always has “just enough” but never more. The person who spends even when they know they shouldn’t, just to create the same familiar anxiety loop they grew up in. The belief might not be “I’m broke.” It might be: “Ease isn’t safe.” Or: “Something bad always comes when things get good.”

Then there’s the unworthiness wound. This is often rooted in early experiences of rejection, comparison, or conditional love. It says, “If I stand out, I’ll be judged. If I shine, I’ll lose connection.” When this lives inside your money story, it doesn’t always sound like “I don’t deserve money.” It might sound like: “I shouldn’t spend on myself.” Or: “I don’t want to charge too much in case people think I’m greedy.” This is the wound that creates generosity with others but avoidance with your own needs. It masks itself as humility, but underneath is shame.

The safety wound is all about protection. It’s built on the nervous system’s belief that visibility equals danger. You might be someone who can attract money easily, but then it vanishes. You overspend, forget to invoice, or feel terrified at the thought of taxes or financial planning. Why? Because to the body, more money means more responsibility, more exposure, more potential to mess it all up. This wound doesn’t always say, “I’m scared of money.” It says, “Let’s just keep things simple and quiet. Let’s not risk being seen.”

This is why people get stuck. They try to fix the money problem with strategies and spreadsheets. But the real script is running deeper. Until the wound is met, named, and softened, the pattern won’t change—because the nervous system thinks it’s keeping you safe.

Why You Can’t Manifest Your Way Out of a Wound

This is where so many people get stuck. They’ve read all the money manifestation books, they’ve written the affirmations or visualised the cheque arriving in the post. They’ve tried to “think positively” and “feel abundant” but deep down, nothing shifts. That’s not because they’re not trying hard enough. It’s because no amount of positive thinking can override a dysregulated nervous system.

If your body still feels unsafe having money, it won’t let you keep it. If your subconscious still believes that money causes conflict, that wealthy people are bad, or that you’ll be rejected for succeeding, you’ll unconsciously sabotage any situation that threatens to prove otherwise. You might call it bad luck, but really, it’s just the same loop playing out until the deeper pattern is met.

This is the piece most manifesting advice misses. You can’t just “vibrate higher” if your body is still locked in survival mode. You can’t attract abundance from a place of chronic contraction. And you definitely can’t bypass years of financial imprinting by saying “I am rich” in the mirror, while your nervous system is screaming the opposite.

That doesn’t mean you’re stuck, it means you need a bridge. A way to meet your body where it is, without shame, and begin to slowly create safety, not through force, but through presence. That’s the real work. Not tricking yourself into believing something, but gently rewiring the system that’s been trying to protect you from it.

This is where everything starts to change. Not when you perform abundance, but when you feel safe enough to stop performing at all.

But What About the Rich People Who Are Clearly Traumatised?

It’s a fair question. If money is all about nervous system safety and healing, then how do so many stressed, shut-down, or emotionally unavailable people end up rich? How do CEOs, celebrities, or even toxic bosses seem to attract and hold wealth with no spiritual work, no inner peace, no self-awareness?

The answer is this: trauma doesn’t always block money. In many cases, it builds it. Some people respond to trauma by collapsing. Others respond by overfunctioning, controlling or achieving. Their nervous system learned: “If I can succeed, I’ll be safe.” So they build empires. They become high performers. They make millions—but not from wholeness, from fear.

Their wealth is their protection. It gives them control, power, certainty. It makes them feel unattackable. And from the outside, it looks like they’ve “made it.” But inside, their body is still running the same script. They’re often anxious, disconnected, or numb. Many of them don’t know how to rest. Many don’t feel loved unless they’re providing. The money didn’t solve the trauma—it just built a fortress around it.

So yes, you can absolutely create wealth from a dysregulated nervous system. But it comes at a cost. It’s not relaxed wealth or embodied. It’s not freely received, it’s chased, clung to, or used to prove something.

The work I’m talking about isn’t just about having more money, it’s about having a different relationship with it. Not needing to hustle to feel safe. Not needing to shrink to feel loved. Not needing to fear the moment it leaves.

This is the difference between wealth that soothes the wound, and wealth that signals the wound is healing.

The Shift From Survival State to Receptive State

Most people are waiting for the outside to change so they can finally feel okay. More money, more ease, more stability. Then they’ll relax and feel abundant. But that’s the trap. That belief, “once I have more, I’ll feel safe”,keeps you stuck in an intellectual loop. You understand the theory, you can even say the right things… but your body is still gripping.

This is what we have to shift. Abundance doesn’t start outside of you. It’s not something you reach once conditions are perfect. It’s a state you learn to access before the external proof shows up. Not through delusion or pretending, but through learning to stay regulated, present, and open—even when old patterns want to take over.

This is true abundance. Not just in money, but in relationships, time, creativity, energy. It’s the shift from “I need to control everything to feel safe,” to “I trust myself enough to stay open.” From “I’ll be okay when…” to “I’m already anchored, and that’s why more can come.”

In quantum terms, abundance isn’t something you chase, it’s a frequency you hold. And frequency isn’t a mindset. It’s a state of being (love). You don’t attract money because you’ve thought about it enough, or because your vision board is perfectly aligned. You attract what you are a vibrational match for. That’s not woo, that’s physics. Everything in the universe is made up of energy vibrating at different speeds; thoughts, emotions, your body, your beliefs. The field responds to coherence, not performance.

Think of your nervous system like a radio. If you’re tuned to a survival station, panic, lack, urgency, it doesn’t matter how many times you say “I am abundant.” You’re still broadcasting from fear. You’re still sending out a scrambled signal, one that says, “I want more, but I don’t trust it. I want stability, but I’m braced for chaos.” The universe doesn’t respond to what you want. It responds to what you’re transmitting.

This is why you can hustle all day and still feel poor. It’s why some people make money and then lose it just as fast. They’re still tuned to the same frequency. And just like you can’t listen to jazz on a station that’s set to heavy metal, you can’t experience true abundance from a nervous system that’s still locked in fear.

The work isn’t to think more positively. It’s to retune. To calm the static, create coherence between your mind, body, and field. That’s what changes your receptivity. Not because you forced a new identity, but because your system no longer sees growth, visibility, or wealth as a threat.

You become magnetic when your energy stabilises. When your yes is clean. When your body believes what your mouth is saying. That’s when the field starts mirroring something new—not because you tricked it, but because you became it. If your money hasn’t shifted, it’s because your signal is still scrambled with fear, guilt, or control. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to stop performing and start regulating.

That’s the real rewire, not more effort but more coherence. That’s the work. Not forcing yourself to be positive, or faking belief but learning to feel safe with expansion—bit by bit, breath by breath.

You Can’t Manifest on an Empty Stomach

The question that cuts through everything: “How the hell am I supposed to change my frequency when I can’t afford to feed my kids and I’m queuing at a food bank?”

Let me be clear: you can’t think your way into abundance when your nervous system is in crisis. When you're in survival, real, physical, get-through-the-day survival, you’re not going to “manifest” your way out by repeating affirmations. Because your body is doing exactly what it’s meant to do: protect you. That’s not failure mate, that’s biology.

This is where most manifesting advice becomes unhelpful at best, harmful at worst. You cannot bypass real-world struggle. And you shouldn’t be asked to. But what you can do is take back tiny moments of regulation, even inside chaos. That’s how the frequency starts to shift. One breath, one quiet self-reminder that you are not the shame. One moment of stillness before making a decision. One choice not made from panic. You can’t override survival, but you can begin to witness it. That’s the crack where the light gets in.

And I know this might sound too simple to matter. But when you’re in survival, presence is the wealth. Every moment you interrupt the spiral is a frequency shift. Not a performance, a reclamation. You don’t have to pretend it’s not hard. You don’t have to force gratitude when you're exhausted. But if you can start to notice the thoughts, meet the shame, and anchor back into your body, little by little, you’re already changing the signal you’re sending out.

Abundance doesn’t always begin with money. Sometimes it begins with stillness. Remembering who you are underneath the fear. And from there, the world responds differently because you’re no longer abandoning yourself in it.

This Is What We’re Doing Inside Awakened Self Healers

If all of this has hit something in you, it’s because your nervous system is smarter than your bank balance. You don’t have a willpower problem. You’re not “bad with money.” You’ve been living inside a loop that was never yours to begin with.

This month’s Zoom (16th June 8pm BST) is for anyone who wants to stop spiralling in survival. We’ll explore the roots of these money wounds, how they show up in your day-to-day patterns, and, most importantly, how to start shifting them. We’re not fixing spreadsheets, we’re working with your body. With the field. With what’s actually creating your reality on a moment-by-moment level.

This month’s Zoom is where we go deeper. We’ll explore how to shift out of survival mode, how to feel safe receiving, and how to stop repeating the old script—mentally, emotionally, and energetically.

Join Awakened Self Healers to access the session. A space for those walking the inner path. Monthly Zooms, voice-note mentorship, and real-time support for navigating emotional healing, nervous system patterns and energetic shifts.

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