“I’m Just Not Good With Money.” How Maya Took Ownership of Her Finances and Her Future.

Let me tell you about a woman I’ll call Maya.

She’s not one specific person. Her story is a composite of many women I’ve worked with through Get Right With Money. While the details are changed to honor privacy, the emotional truth of Maya’s journey is one I see over and over again — so much so that it may be the most common money narrative I encounter.

Maya was smart, thoughtful, and so very capable. She was successful in her work, she managed a household, and honestly, she was the kind of woman others turned to for advice.

And yet, when it came to money, she felt like a failure.

She couldn’t bring herself to look at her bank accounts. Her bills were on auto-pay, but she had no real sense of how much she was spending month-to-month. The thought of creating a budget made her stomach tighten. She avoided it all — not because she didn’t care, but because the shame ran so deep.

In her words, “I’ve just never been good with money. I know that’s not a great thing to say, but it’s true. I always mess it up somehow.”

Avoidance isn’t the problem — it’s the strategy

Maya hadn’t always avoided money. Earlier in her life, she had tried to be “good” with her finances. She read the books, tried the apps, and made ambitious spreadsheets that she never looked at again. But when the structures and strategies didn’t work, she blamed herself. The inner critic took over, and eventually, it felt easier to look away.

Over time, avoidance became her default.

If she didn’t look, she couldn’t feel bad.
If she didn’t open the credit card statement, she wouldn’t have to see the number.
If she didn’t check her business income, she could pretend it wasn’t as low — or as high — as she feared.

The problem wasn’t a lack of knowledge. She knew what she was “supposed” to do. But the moment she tried, old stories rose up — stories about incompetence, about not being trustworthy, about somehow being broken.

What she didn’t know yet was that her nervous system had learned that engaging with money wasn’t safe — avoidance had become a form of protection. But let’s be clear: it didn’t work. She was anxious as hell.

When fear & shame get too loud to ignore

By the time Maya found her way to Get Right With Money, she wasn’t in a financial crisis — but she was tired. Tired of pretending she was fine. Tired of nodding along when friends talked about retirement or savings. Tired of carrying the ever-present anxiety that came from never really knowing where things stood.

What she wanted wasn’t just financial literacy. What she really wanted was peace. She wanted clarity. She wanted to stop feeling like she was failing at something so fundamental.

But she didn’t believe that was possible for her. And she gave me all sorts of reasons, “I’m right-brained and creative — my brain just doesn’t do numbers.” “My partner is so much better with numbers and really likes it. I’m better off letting them handle it.”

Still, something about the way Get Right With Money was described — the nervous system focus, the gentleness, the absence of shame — gave her a flicker of hope. She signed up without telling anyone. She kept her expectations low.

What happened surprised her.

Finding safety in seeing clearly

In the first weeks, Maya didn’t do much “money work” in the traditional sense. Instead, she focused on cultivating a sense of safety in her body.

Before we ever talked about spreadsheets or systems, we practiced noticing. What happened in her body when money came up. What emotions stirred. What her inner voice said when she made a purchase or received a bill.

For the first time, she realized how much of her avoidance was rooted in fear, not laziness.

As her awareness grew, so did her capacity.

She began logging into her accounts. Not every day — but more than before. She wrote down her monthly income and expenses, not to punish herself, but to become familiar with what was real. She started saying things like, “I know what’s coming in this month, and I know what’s going out.”

For someone who once couldn’t open a bank statement without spiraling into shame, this was revolutionary.

From avoidance to ownership

The changes didn’t happen overnight, but they did begin to stack.

Maya paid off the lingering credit card balance she’d been ignoring for years. She opened a savings account for the first time in over a decade. She talked with her partner — for the first time in a long while — about what they wanted to do with their money, not just how to survive the month.

And perhaps most importantly, she stopped saying, “I’m just not good with money.”

That narrative softened. It didn’t disappear, but it lost its grip as she unravelled some old beliefs that she took on in her early life.

She began to see herself as someone who could learn, who could engage, who could make mistakes and still be trustworthy.

She said to me one day, “I don’t know if I’m a money genius yet, but I no longer feel like a disaster. I actually feel like… I’ve got this.”

A new identity

This is what happens when women stop trying to “fix” their money and start healing their relationship with it.

Maya didn’t become perfect with money. She didn’t have to because she became present.

She went from someone who avoided money entirely to someone who checked in regularly — not obsessively, but consistently. She began building a relationship of trust with herself. She no longer waited for the shame spiral. She didn’t have to pretend anymore.

She started showing up.

Is this a familiar story?

If you’ve ever said, “I’m just not good with money,”
If you’ve avoided your accounts, or investing, or taxes, or setting up systems for yourself for months — or years,
If you carry anxiety or shame about your spending, your debt, or your perceived “failures” with money…

Sister, you are not alone.

You don’t need to force yourself to be better with money. You need a safe, supportive space to begin seeing clearly — and staying present — a container that supports a new narrative of empowerment with your money.

That’s what we do inside Get Right With Money. I’d love to see you there.