'What is your relationship with money?'

asked Fran, one third of The Friendzone trio.

Sometimes you are living a perfectly normal life, going about your daily grind, feeling alright maybe even good, for the most part and then its mid week,the Friendzone podcast latest episode goes up and that wellness section often has you questioning if you are in fact living life right.

Side bar, The Friendzone goes down in my books as one of the best podcasts on my radar. When I first started listening to it, it was out of the excitement of having an Apple device which as consumerist as it sounds was a 'life long ' dream of mine. 'Life long' because we all know Apple products haven't been around a lifetime and the prestige associated with the Apple brand only cropped up with the dawn of these fangled things, apps; Instagram, Snapchat, Musical.ly (for the children) and the reality on the ground these only became 'it' things in the second decade of the 2000s. I guess its safe to say that, life long would be pushing it.

While we are on the topic of podcasts that are on my radar, while maintaining that The Friendzone holds down the number one spot, to flush out earworms and get you on some wholesome vibes; Jesus and Jollof is hilarious, Dax Shepherd Armchair Expert is a good listen, Oprah Super Soul Sundays? Come on, you see the name Oprah, you give it a try, Where Should We Begin? is straight up juicy. Of course there are a tonne of other podcast that are out there, whole genres in fact on crime and life behind bars for instance , that, at least for me, have since shone a whole new perspective on a bunch of things over the past year.

On one of their past episodes, in Fran's wellness section, she posed a question to the listeners and of course Dustin and Assante. What is your relationship with money? It was either that or how do you view money or what is your view on money maybe even your attitude towards money. Dustin and Assante pretty much had the same answer, they view it as a means of getting by, no more, no less. They don't glorify it, they don't associate with problems, its just a means that allows them to meet their wants and needs. Interestingly, I said, of course I wasn't on the show, but if I could I would prefer not to think about it, its a rather uncomfortable topic for me especially when we have to label it with hardcore, rigid numbers.

If you think about it, money is all about labels, quite literally price tags with numbers that I often think I can't afford, it  tends to define a person and their choice of life be it the type of education they have, the clothes you wear, the car you drive, where you live, no matter what you look at, more often than not, you will find money playing the background. I look at it as a restriction, the more you have the better placed you are. Of course, the less you have...

What is the point of all this wittering on and on about a cringe worthy topic? Turns out, women, are more likely to have a skewed outlook on money than men. Quite frankly, that isn't surprising after taking Gender and the Law this past semester. Looking at it from a gender and labor perspective relating it to the world today, which is a far cry from yesteryears, women and men's pay are not equal, women in most developing nations are often the bread winners and even where households have more than a single income, women, are often the ones tasked with stretching a coin as far as it can go.

Maybe then, women do have a right to have a bit of an attitude problem towards money. Fran, however, is on to something, changing your whole perspective on your outlook towards money could be a game changer. So I guess for me the first step would be separating self worth from  money, after all is said and done it is first and foremost a means to an end not vice versa, there's so much more in between, dare I say more worth my while than thinking about that pesky constant, money. Once it plays its role, that's as far as my financial thought process will go. Creating all the theatrics around it,only does more harm than good to my mental health, and who in the hell wants a musty brain? I sure don't.

Have a good one!