We are often taught how to acquire financial resources, make money and secure the bag. Be it through working an eight-to-five job, starting a side hustle or monetising our talents. Seldom are we taught the mental and emotional resources required to manage the financial resources. I sit down with Mpheng Ayat Thamae, a counselling psychologist who is passionate about mental wellness to discuss financial resources versus mental resources.
Who is Mpheng?
I am Mpheng Ayat Thamae. I will start by saying I am team Jesus because that is what I would want to be known for. I am half Mosotho and half Ugandan. My dad is from Uganda and my mother from Lesotho. I am a counselling psychologist by profession. I am passionate about mental health, especially in developing countries where I feel there is still so much more work that we need to do.
If you are broke mentally, you will definitely be broke in your wallet. – Mpheng Ayat Thamae
What is your relationship with money?
I have a flirty relationship with money. Money sees me and chooses me, but I do not see money as my Lord. I use money and money does not control me. I believe that money is something that should be used to enable a lifestyle or whatever we want to be. I don’t believe ,however, that it should lord you because that can be very dangerous and can cost you relationships. Yes, I want more of it to use and not for it to control me.
I’m not going to say I don’t care about money, I do. But I am one of the people that believe that if you are in alignment with the will of God for your life, money follows you. If you are in purpose, money should come. It might take a while for some people, but if you show up and believe in what you do, I think it will come.
What is therapy and why is it important?
Therapy, without even citing textbook definitions is going to a professional who is neutral and trained. The professional will help you manoeuvre and process certain things that you would not otherwise be able to process by yourself. It is important that you go to qualified psychologists. Also, therapy is not as spooky as people make it out to be.
Once you do decide to have that session, it changes you. I always say you feel like a quality human being because there is quality to what you say, what you think and how you process things. Unlike other people who operate on a particular surface, you go deeper to ask things or questions that other people do not.
Let us talk about financial resources vs. mental resources
We are taught about money and what you should do to get money. People are working hard to buy and get everything they need- income, cars and homes. What they were not taught, however, is the mental and emotional resources that are needed to handle these financial resources. I think this is a conversation that we should have, especially for people in our generation Yes, like you are saying, we are securing the bag and we have the things we have. But do we have the mental resources to deal with the financial resources that we have? Are we aware of certain things that we can or cannot do? Are we aware of where we can help or where we cannot help? So, for me, that is what I am processing in my mind.
In part two of the blog, Mpheng and I unpack what mental resources are, why we need to set boundaries and how to manage them.
Love. Peace. Money
