Happy (or not so happy) 2025!

From: Rahkim Sabree

Connecticut, USA

1/11/2025 4:18 PM

Dear friend & subscriber,

Happy (or not so happy) 2025. It seems the year has started off in chaos with California burning and precious lives lost. I saw a post recently of several families who lost their homes—and subsequently potential or realized generational wealth—due to the tragedy. I reflect on my own journey as a homeowner, being faced with financial trauma and uncertainty to overcome the odds and obstacles in making homeownership a reality.

To imagine the hope, pride, and investment in my and my famili’s future wiped away in an instant is mortifying and a constant reminder of not only the impermanence of things but the impermanence of life.

As this is the first newsletter of the year, I wanted to share a summary of the accomplishments and successes of 2024 with my ambitions for 2025 but, in some ways that feels so inappropriate.

I have friends in California.

I have family in California.

YOU may be in California.

And my heart breaks for the communities impacted by what’s being described by some as an uncontainable fire.

In my trauma research lately, I’ve come across the term vicarious trauma, which is trauma experienced through the observation of trauma as either the perpetrator of that trauma or the innocent bystander. When I consider what that looks like financially, it punctuates the need to acknowledge financial trauma as not just an event in our distant or immediate past that has directly impacted us; but an event that we may have observed or heard about that subconsciously impacts us as well.

The first article of this year will be a review of the book “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies ” by Resmaa Menakem where I’ll reflect on the lessons learned about vicarious trauma, the concept of “clean and dirty” pain, lost context with trauma, and how these things tie into my understanding of behavior and money.

While I committed to making the full-length articles going forward exist behind the paywall as an exclusive to paid subscribers only, I feel like this timely analysis and reflection should be available to all and I will instead make it completely free to view for anyone and everyone.

Be on the lookout for this article to hit your inbox and the Substack feed on Monday.

Speaking of Monday, I’m also in the process of putting together my first workshop of the year kicking off financial wellness month called “Unveiling Your Money Story: Understanding the Roots of Your Financial Behavior” which I’ll be delivering for one of the local libraries here in Connecticut.

Although this won’t be recorded or live streamed as widely available, I recently ran a poll on Twitter and LinkedIn asking my audience what tools would be helpful to help synchronize our understanding of the language used around financial trauma and webinars and workshops were a popular result.

Below you’ll find the same sort of survey polling you for feedback on what tools you think would help you most and if there is a consensus that webinars work best, I’ll look into committing to hosting a quarterly free webinar for you so that you can get access to the information in these more private live sessions from the comfort of your home.

At this time I ask that you take a moment to pause and identify your body’s response to stress. It can be the stress of the world burning, financial stress, occupational stress (related to your job), familial stress, or some kind of stress I have not mentioned. Make note of where you feel that stress in your body. Make note of your reaction to that stress. Is your heart rate going up? Is your mouth dry? Do you feel a warming or cooling sensation?

I want you then to take a big breath and hold it, (no seriously take the breath and hold it). Then I want you to allow yourself to release that stress from that location by visualizing it shrinking or moving out of your body through your hands and feet. Feel yourself in the present moment and reflect on your safety.

For some, one cycle of this may be enough.

For others, you may need to do this several times.

Make note of how you feel after and feel free to send me a message to discuss.

I’m cheering for you.

-Rahkim Sabree