43: Dr. Devon Price and Financial Anxiety
Dr. Devon Price is the author of the newly published book “Laziness Does Not Exist,” a social psychologist, writer, activist, and professor. In this episode, we cover the importance of safely spending money, finding a community of people that are making money work in a way that aligns with your values, and how self-compassion contributes to our relationship with money.
Takeaways from Talking to Dr. Price
It takes money to live. And not just to afford the basics like food, shelter, and transportation, but to enjoy life. Dr. Price talks about how they worked on feeling better about spending after feeling anxiety over wanted to optimize all of their spending for an “optimal” ROI on happiness.
Find people who align with your values. Maybe living off of half of your paycheck isn’t possible or appealing. Perhaps you’d rather NOT worry about paying your debt back as soon as possible. You might not be the type of person who wants rental properties. Dr. Price says that’s fine: you don’t have to follow the loudest voices in the personal finance space, there are subsets of people who are making money work in a way that’s aligned with their values. Odds are, you can find a community of folx who can support you in your money journey.
Practice self-compassion to cope with financial anxiety. Practicing compassion (aka being nice to yourself) is a cornerstone of cultivating a healthy relationship with money. As a human, you are bound to make mistakes financially, and rather than berate yourself, you’re better off acknowledging the mistake and practicing forgiveness.
More about Dr. Price: Their work has appeared in the Financial Times, Huffpo, Shape magazine, Psychology Today, Chicago Magazine, Lithub, and on PBS and NPR. They write regularly about neurodiversity, mental health, culture, and economic and social justice at devonprice.medium.com.