Why I’m being pulled toward this work: The invisible money game we’re never taught

I’ve always had a sense that I was missing something when it came to money.

As a kid, I liked to save coins in a little blue box, take them out and stack them, counting what I had. And later, when my dollars became more and my parents asked to borrow some, I gave it to them. I don’t remember getting it back, but I wasn’t keeping score. It just felt like something I did.

I remember watching my mom stress about money. I didn’t know the details as a little girl, but I knew we didn’t have enough. Later, when things got really tight and serious, I asked her to show me where the money was going, let’s make a plan. For the first time, she actually did and I wrote the numbers down on the back of an envelope. There, sitting on a bench at a park, I realized: this isn’t as bad as I thought. There was a plan in there, somewhere. That made me feel better.

Seeing the numbers made it less a scary unknown, something I could work with.

I used to think money was hard and complicated. That rich people had some secret code. Then I found the FIRE movement and realized, oh there’s a system. There are rules, like a game. And I could learn to play.

Starting a business really pushed me into that game. I learned how money flows differently to owners than to employees. I understood (and even empathized at times) why companies outsource. I understood how profit works (and who gets left out).

That changed how I see the world. It also changed how I see my role in it.

I'm not trying to win this game by traditional standards. I'm more interested in making the game visible to people who didn’t even know there was a game.

I care about money because it’s one of the main systems shaping our lives and it’s one most people feel disconnected from, ashamed of, or exhausted by.

But money is a process. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just need enough clarity to make your choices.

I don’t want to be the expert who teaches you everything. I’d rather be the game tutorial. The person you watch play. “Here’s how I’m doing it. Take what works.”

I believe that when people have more clarity around money, they can rest more. They can eat better, breathe easier, parent with more patience. They can help others. They cause less harm.

People might still suck sometimes, but a well-fed, well-rested person is a lot less dangerous than one who’s starving, sleep-deprived, and not sure about tomorrow.

That’s why I care about money and consciousness.

Not because I think we can fix everything.

The game’s gonna be rigged as long as there are people committed to rigging it.

But once you know that? You can stop unconsciously playing their game, skip that side quest.

Or play your own game inside the game, build something that works for you and the people you care about.

That’s where I’m going to play.