Am I Still Speaking Your Language?
From: Rahkim Sabree
Connecticut, US
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Today I was going through my external hard drive and I found a video recorded in 2022 at the Financial Therapy Association conference where I sat on a panel discussing making financial therapy more accessible.
The first question we started with was how do you define financial therapy?
When I introduced myself, I introduced myself as a financial coach and replied that I had no definition for that but I did have a definition for financial trauma.
Prior to heading to the conference that year I had hardly ever heard of a financial therapist let alone had a definition for financial therapy. This conference was my introduction to a greater community of people dedicated to doing the work I do today.
It was after that conference I decided to start this newsletter and little did I know how much things would change.
Today I call myself a financial therapist and I do have a definition for financial therapy, but that’s not why I’m writing to you today.
In reviewing that video and reflecting on the subsequent work I’ve created and been apart of I realized something.
(Here’s the video)
Something MAJOR!
I realized that in a quest to become likable, respected, taken seriously, an authority, etc. that I slowly slipped away from my focus on financial trauma exclusively and started branching out to address financial therapy, different financial disorders, financial capability, etc.
Basically I jumped off the deep end of financial services politics and wordplay and started speaking to you differently.
I got so excited about the prospect of rubbing elbows with the licensed, the credentialed, the academics, that I completely lost sight of the fact that this message was supposed to be for you, coming from one of you.
These days my outlooks are a lot less based on past personal experiences and more based on academic research, journals, the credentials and formal training I’ve attained.
While this isn’t entirely negative —it’s not negative at all — I wonder how many people my messaging was clicking with that it no longer is.
I wonder if in an effort to simply the complex language and approaches to defining and healing financial trauma, I started using it.
While this is a major wake up call for me I recognize that it’s also an opportunity for me to reconnect with you, the reader. Because that’s the reason I started Overcoming Financial Trauma, why I started building the social media presence, why I wrote the books and joined all of the podcasts. — because of you.
Interestingly I’m also at a transition point in my business where I’m examining the foundation and basically starting anew.
This is an exciting time for me because not only are you along for the ride witness it but it gives me an opportunity to get to know you, your unique interests and needs, and grow this thing.
If you’re as interested in me getting to know you as I am I would love for you to do me a small favor.
Subscribe to my Youtube channel where, I’ll be honest I’m dipping my toe in slowly. The last few days I’ve been uploading full video of panels, workshops, and breakouts I have sitting on this hard drive.
Share this newsletter with a friend or 5! The best part of getting to know someone is telling someone
Reply to this email letting me know 1 thing about you that you think I should know.
I’m really looking forward to learning about you and sharing more about me.
Talk soon!
-Rahkim