Notice This... With QueenB.Divine | The Investment Mindset, Childhood Money Beliefs, Self-Love & Learning to Build Wealth
Notice this. It wasn't until recently that I realized just how powerful an investment mindset really is. And I'm not talking about sitting in front of a computer watching Bitcoin bounce up and down like somebody who had one too many cups of coffee. I'm talking about something much bigger than money. I'm talking about investing in the actual living part of life. The part where you wake up every morning, look in the mirror, and decide whether you're worth the time, energy, patience, and effort it takes to become the person you're trying to be. Because I've discovered something rather interesting on my journey into investing. Before I could understand the value of money, I had to begin understanding the value of myself.
And perhaps that's why I came up with my little saying, "Don't Crypto on My Mindset." Because whether we're talking about cryptocurrency, traditional investing, saving money, building a business, or simply trying to keep enough money in the bank to pay the bills, our mindset comes along for the ride. You can't exactly leave your childhood experiences at the door while you open an investment account. Believe me, I wish it were that easy. Imagine clicking a button that says Delete Financial Baggage. Wouldn't that be something? Unfortunately, life doesn't come with that feature. Sometimes we have to sit down, open up those old emotional files, and figure out why we've been carrying them around for so long.
But before we get into all that, how are you doing? Seriously. Are you taking care of yourself? Are you pouring anything back into the person who spends every day trying to make life work? Or are you so busy chasing the digital money, the paper money, the next opportunity, the next paycheck, or the next big thing that you've forgotten what you're actually working for? Because I want to remind you of something. Money is important. Of course it is. It pays the rent, puts food on the table, provides opportunities, and sometimes makes life a whole lot easier. But the person behind that computer screen is even more important. And if you're working yourself into the ground trying to create a beautiful future, when exactly are you planning to enjoy the present?
I've started asking myself that question more often. When will I sit down and relax? When will I give myself permission to enjoy the day without feeling as though I should be doing something productive? When will I stop measuring my progress by what I've earned and start appreciating what I've learned? Because investments, when they work out, can eventually become rewards, experiences, opportunities, and dreams brought into reality. But what good is any of that if you're too exhausted to enjoy it? What's the point of building wealth if you've forgotten how to live?
Now, here's where my story gets a little personal. Investing wasn't always part of my life. Actually, money itself wasn't something I understood very well growing up. Not because I didn't know what it was. Good grief, even as children we knew that money bought candy, toys, and all those wonderful little things we wanted. But understanding money as a tool for creating security, opportunities, and long-term financial well-being? That was an entirely different conversation. And it wasn't one I remember having very often.
I've always wondered why money wasn't taught more openly in schools. Why weren't we learning about saving, budgeting, investing, interest, debt, and the emotional relationship people develop with money? We learned all kinds of things growing up, some of which I've never used again. But understanding how to manage the money we would eventually spend much of our adult lives working for? Somehow, that didn't always get the attention it deserved. And here's a question people still ask today: Why isn't financial literacy taught more consistently in schools? The answer depends on where you live, because some school systems have expanded financial education while others still cover it unevenly. But I think there's something missing from the conversation regardless of how much budgeting gets taught. We need to teach children about their own value before we teach them how to calculate the value of everything else.
Let me explain why I believe that. When I was growing up, money was extremely tight. My mother came to Canada from Jamaica, and my family circumstances were complicated. My brothers and sisters had come from Jamaica, while I was born in Canada. I had five siblings whose early experiences were different from mine, and the world I was growing up in wasn't exactly straightforward. There were different countries, different circumstances, different opportunities, and a whole lot of things I didn't understand as a child. My beginnings were scattered, to say the least. I've spoken about some of those experiences on another platform, and I'll share that story separately because there's quite a bit to unpack.
But one thing I remember is that before I was even four years old, I had spent time in rooming houses and experienced being left alone far more than a child should have to understand. Somehow, I survived those early years. And as I've grown older, I've started looking back at those experiences with a different perspective. I began realizing that money must have been incredibly tight. My mother had come to Canada hoping to create opportunities for her family. But starting over in another country isn't always the beautiful fresh beginning people imagine. Sometimes it means leaving behind everything familiar, discovering that the life you had before doesn't translate into the life you're trying to build, and working harder than you ever expected just to establish yourself.
My mother had known a different level of financial comfort in Jamaica. But here in Canada, she had to begin again. And when I say begin again, I mean from the bottom. I remember hearing her talk about how different things had become. She would say that years ago, a person could work a job, afford an apartment, and still have time to enjoy their family. Then she'd look at the rising cost of living and wonder how people were supposed to manage when it seemed like they needed six jobs just to rent a room. Now, I'm not suggesting that life was financially easy for everybody in the past. It certainly wasn't. But I understood what she meant. She was talking about the amount of energy people had to spend simply trying to survive.
And isn't that still a conversation we're having today? Why does it feel so difficult to get ahead financially, even when you're working hard? Why are people exhausted before they've even begun thinking about retirement? Why do so many families feel as though they're constantly running but never quite catching up? Housing costs, wages, debt, inflation, family responsibilities, and unexpected expenses all play a role. But I think there's another part of the conversation that deserves attention. What happens to our relationship with money when we grow up watching the people we love struggle to earn enough of it? For me, the answer began revealing itself many years later.
By the time I reached grade one, I was introduced to my sister. Imagine that for a moment. Meeting a sister you didn't even clearly remember having. She was part of my family, part of my story, and yet our lives had been separated by circumstances I was far too young to understand. And she was ill. My sister had sickle cell anemia, a serious inherited blood disorder that can cause painful complications and other significant health problems. At that time, Toronto offered medical care and resources that my family hoped would help her. My mother wanted her daughter to have access to better treatment and support.
And suddenly, money wasn't simply about buying things anymore. Money was connected to medical care. It was connected to travel. It was connected to the possibility of keeping a family together. It was connected to whether my mother could work enough to provide for everyone. And for me, as a little girl, it was also connected to loneliness. Because my mother had to work. And when my mother worked, I was often alone.
Now, here's something I didn't understand until much later. Children don't necessarily interpret financial hardship the way adults do. A child doesn't sit down and say, Well, my mother is navigating immigration, employment, healthcare expenses, and the economic challenges of establishing a household in a new country. No. A child simply knows that Mommy isn't there. A child knows when the room is quiet. A child knows when they're frightened. A child knows when they need somebody and that person isn't available. And sometimes, without realizing it, a child begins attaching those feelings to whatever circumstances seem to be causing them.
For me, money became tangled up with fear, loneliness, separation, and lack. And that brings me to something I've been learning about recently: Can childhood experiences affect your relationship with money as an adult? Yes, they can. Our early experiences can influence the beliefs, emotions, and habits we develop around earning, spending, saving, and investing. Growing up with financial insecurity can leave some people feeling especially cautious about money. Others may become determined to accumulate as much as possible because they never want to experience that insecurity again. And some of us? Well, we might avoid thinking about money altogether.
That was something I began recognizing in myself. Without consciously deciding to, I had developed a rather uncomfortable relationship with money. It wasn't necessarily something I wanted to accumulate. It was something that seemed to arrive with problems attached. Money meant somebody had to leave for work. Money meant somebody needed medical care. Money meant there wasn't enough. Money meant worrying. Money meant surviving. And when you grow up connecting something to difficult emotions, it can take a long time to recognize that the thing itself isn't necessarily the enemy.
Money didn't create every problem my family experienced. But in my young mind, money became part of the explanation for why life felt the way it did. And I carried some of those feelings into adulthood without even realizing it. Now, I'm not suggesting that every financial struggle comes from childhood experiences. Absolutely not. Sometimes people struggle because wages aren't keeping up with expenses, opportunities are limited, or life throws one unexpected bill after another in their direction. A positive attitude doesn't magically pay the rent. But I am learning that the beliefs we carry about ourselves and money can influence the choices we make when opportunities do appear.
And that brings me to another question worth asking: What is a money mindset, and can you actually change it? The way I understand it, a money mindset is the collection of beliefs, attitudes, emotions, and habits that influence how we think about and handle money. Some people see money primarily as security. Others see it as freedom, status, responsibility, opportunity, or even danger. And yes, those beliefs can change. But changing them doesn't mean standing in front of a mirror repeating, I'm a millionaire, I'm a millionaire, while your bank account is quietly asking whether you've paid the electricity bill. Wouldn't that be lovely, though?
I think about the little girl I used to be. The one who spent time alone, trying to make sense of a world that seemed to revolve around adults working, struggling, and worrying about money. What would have happened if somebody had sat down with her and explained that her value wasn't determined by how much money her family had? What if somebody had told her that being poor didn't mean she was worth less? What if she'd been taught that money could be understood, managed, saved, and eventually invested, rather than feared? I can't go back and change those early experiences. None of us can. But I can change what I do with the lessons I've taken from them.
And that's why I believe financial education should begin with children understanding their own worth. How do you teach children about money without teaching them to measure their value by it? Start by helping them understand that they matter regardless of what their family earns. Teach them the difference between needs and wants. Let them practice saving toward something meaningful. Show them that money involves choices and that making a financial mistake doesn't make them a failure. Teach them that knowledge is an investment. So is kindness. So is learning a skill. So is taking care of their health. So is developing the confidence to ask questions when they don't understand something.
And when they're ready, teach them about budgeting, saving, interest, investing, and financial risk. Because wouldn't it be wonderful if the next generation grew up understanding that money is a tool they can learn to use, rather than a mysterious force that determines whether they're good enough?
Now, let's talk about cryptocurrency for a moment. When I began exploring Bitcoin and the world of digital investing, I realized just how much I didn't know. And that's okay. I'm still learning. But the interesting thing is that learning about cryptocurrency has also encouraged me to examine how I respond to uncertainty. Because if you've ever watched the crypto market, you know uncertainty isn't exactly in short supply. One minute everybody's celebrating. The next minute somebody's predicting financial disaster. Then another person comes along explaining why you should have bought something six months ago. And there you are, sitting in front of the computer with your coffee, wondering whether anybody actually knows what's going on.
Sometimes I laugh because the whole experience reminds me of life itself. We want certainty. We want guarantees. We want to know that the decisions we're making today will produce beautiful results tomorrow. But investing doesn't work that way. And neither does life. There are risks. There are lessons. There are opportunities. There are disappointments. And there are moments when the smartest thing you can do is admit that you don't understand something well enough to make a decision.
For someone like me, who grew up with uncertainty connected to money, learning to approach financial decisions calmly is an investment in itself. And here's another question people often ask: Does having a positive money mindset make you wealthy? Not automatically. I think that's important to say because there's a lot of information online suggesting that if you simply think positively enough, money will somehow find its way into your life. Wouldn't that be convenient? I'd be sitting on a beach somewhere right now, sipping something with a little umbrella in it.
And I certainly don't believe that feeling tired, financially stressed, or emotionally overwhelmed means you're destined to fail. Sometimes people accomplish extraordinary things while navigating difficult circumstances. Sometimes progress happens slowly. Sometimes success looks like paying a bill on time, learning a new skill, or finally opening a savings account after years of avoiding the subject. And sometimes the greatest investment you make is simply deciding that your past doesn't have to control every financial decision you make in the future.
That realization is part of why I created my saying, "Self-love and self-care will get you there." Because wealth, to me, begins with recognizing that you're worth investing in. That doesn't mean money grows out of self-love. If it did, I'd have planted an entire garden of it by now. It means that when you begin valuing yourself, you may also begin taking your needs, education, health, opportunities, and future more seriously.
You might become more comfortable asking questions about money. You might begin learning about investing instead of avoiding it. You might recognize when you're making decisions out of fear rather than understanding. You might even discover that you enjoy learning about financial topics you once believed were completely beyond your reach. And that's where I am right now. Learning. Unlearning. Relearning. Sometimes laughing at myself along the way. Because I spent so much of my life associating money with difficult experiences that I didn't always recognize the possibilities that financial knowledge could offer.
And now, here I am, learning about cryptocurrency, investment strategies, digital opportunities, and the importance of protecting my mindset while doing it. Who would have thought? Certainly not that little girl sitting alone in a rooming house, trying to understand why life was so complicated. But perhaps that's the beautiful thing about getting older. We can begin giving ourselves some of the understanding we didn't receive when we were younger. We can acknowledge the difficult parts of our stories without allowing them to become the entire story.
We can recognize that our parents were human beings navigating circumstances we didn't fully understand. And we can learn that the relationship we developed with money in childhood doesn't have to remain the relationship we carry for the rest of our lives. So if you've ever wondered why you feel uncomfortable talking about money, why you avoid looking at your finances, why you struggle to save, or why financial uncertainty brings up emotions that seem bigger than the situation itself, perhaps it's worth asking yourself a question. What did money mean in your home when you were growing up?
Was it something people fought about? Was it something nobody discussed? Was it something that always seemed to disappear? Was it connected to working long hours, being separated from family, or feeling as though there was never quite enough? Or perhaps money represented opportunity, freedom, generosity, and security. Whatever your experience, I think there's value in understanding it. Not so you can blame your past for everything happening today, but so you can recognize which lessons are worth keeping and which ones you might be ready to question.
Because here's what I've come to believe. Your childhood may have introduced you to money, but it doesn't have to write the final chapter of your financial story. And that's something I'm still learning myself. I'm not sitting here pretending I've figured out the secret to wealth. I'm not promising that changing your mindset will make your investments profitable. And I'm certainly not telling you to run out and buy cryptocurrency because somebody on the internet says it's going to the moon.
I'm sharing a personal journey about how money became connected to fear in my life, and how learning about investing is helping me develop a different relationship with it. A relationship built more on understanding than avoidance. More on curiosity than fear. And more on recognizing my own worth than measuring it by what I have or haven't accumulated.
So here's my invitation to you. Take a moment and think about the first memory you have of money. Not your first paycheck or your first investment, but the first time you remember money having an emotional meaning in your life. Was it fear? Excitement? Security? Shame? Happiness? Worry?
Share your experience in the comments. What did growing up teach you about money, and have those lessons helped you or held you back as an adult? I would genuinely love to hear your story because I believe these are the conversations we need to have more often.
If you're learning about investing, cryptocurrency, financial confidence, personal growth, and the sometimes messy business of becoming a better version of yourself, follow along with QueenB.Divine. Subscribe, share your thoughts, and join me as I continue learning, unlearning, and relearning what it means to invest in life. And please, somewhere between checking your finances, making plans, and building your future, give yourself permission to enjoy the day.
Because money matters. But so do you.
Don't Crypto on My Mindset. Self-love and self-care will get you there.
With love, a little laughter, and a lifetime of lessons still unfolding,
QueenB.Divine
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