Imagine the human mind as a computer screen, with each thought, feeling, or worry as one open window. Now imagine you have a dozen windows open – many thoughts or concerns bouncing around in your mind.
You probably want to close a few! But how?
In our book, Thriving in Love and Money, Jeff and I share that there are often differences between men and women in how we close open windows – and how quickly. Turns out, if men are bothered by a concern that they don’t want to deal with, they can usually just “click the X,” so to speak, and close that worry-window. (No fair, right?) For most women, our worries keep popping up until we take action to address them.
Take Avery and Liam, who are pregnant with their first child. Avery described walking the beach on a recent vacation they had scrimped to afford, when she saw an intense storm coming. Instantly, she started hustling back to their beach rental to close the storm windows so they wouldn’t be charged an extra clean-up fee. That simple concern triggered many other thoughts:
I so dislike my job … but I must stay until the baby is born for insurance purposes.
We need to buy a second car before the baby comes… but when did interest rates get so high?
Did I hurt the baby when I got into that jacuzzi before I knew I was pregnant? Lord, I hope he’s okay. Maybe I should do an extra check-in with the doctor.
Our drafty old house needs some repairs before winter hits and the baby arrives.
I hope Liam is not still mad at me for splurging on two HVAC units… But he was out of town, and they were such a deal … and we really needed them. Why doesn’t Liam agree?
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