Kate Northrup's Blog

​​​​​​​8 years ago today, at 10:10am, I pushed my baby girl Ruby and her 100th percentile head out of me in a triumphant, unmedicated VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean).

It was not easy, but it permanently changed my relationship to choice, pressure, and what I do in the moments that matter. 

I’d planned a homebirth with her sister, but after dilating to 10cm in a horse trough filled with water in our downstairs bathroom, I ended up needing to be transported to the hospital in an ambulance for an urgent C-section because she was coming out one foot up and one foot down. (And as my mom said to me after, as I was trying to make sense of what happened: “A foot is not a good dilator.”)

My first daughter’s birth left me with more than a C-section scar. I struggled with postpartum insomnia, postpartum anxiety, and other manifestations of the birth trauma for a long time. (Tracking my cycle and organizing my work around it saved me. My second book, Do Less, has it all.)

Ruby’s birth, though? A completely different story. But I don’t think it’s because I did it naturally. I think it’s because I had such a strong sense of agency.

When someone feels like their actions can produce a desirable outcome (aka agency), they have a 92% higher chance of fully resolving the stressor compared to those who don’t feel like they have any control over what happens to them. This is independent of income, education, or circumstances. The feeling of agency is a primary driver of how people resolve stress in individual moments and across the lifespan of adults.

In other words: when you feel like you have a move, everything changes.

And when researchers isolated the variable specifically for financial behavior  –  controlling for income, education, and financial literacy  –  a person’s felt sense of agency was still the strongest independent predictor of whether they saved, invested, built a cushion, or paid down debt. The knowledge to act without the felt sense of agency doesn’t move.

​​​​​​​I see this pattern constantly – highly capable people with access, information, and opportunity who still don’t experience traction because they don’t feel like they have a move when it counts.

Here’s what’s even more fascinating:

We are biologically wired to go passive in stressful situations. Giving our power away under pressure is not a flaw – it’s the default.

In order to have a sense of agency, we need to repattern our default response from one of “this is happening to me” to “I have a move here.”

This is the foundation of the work I’ve been developing and refining for years.

(This is exactly where we start inside Good with Money – because this is the skill that determines how your financial life actually moves.)

We are in a time of rapid change – economically, technologically, and globally. You don’t need a news breakdown to feel it. It’s showing up in markets, industries, the cost of living, and how people make and manage money.

This moment in history is unstable and shifting, and it’s going to impact us all differently, especially when it comes to our money.

The key determinant isn’t your income level, your education, or even how much you know.

How this moment impacts you, your money, and your family is whether you let it happen to you or whether you engage and activate your agency.

Just like the difference between my first and second births, our ability to not only weather the storm, but also prosper and thrive as the ground beneath us shifts, depends the most on one single thing:

Whether or not we feel like we have a choice.

Here’s what makes this especially striking: researchers studying high-income, financially educated adults found that more financial knowledge actually correlated with less satisfaction with their financial outcomes  –  not more.

Income and information alone don’t close the gap. Agency does.

(This is what we train inside Good with Money.)

Here’s what matters:

Feeling like you have a choice and that your choices have a positive, meaningful impact on the outcome, also known as self-efficacy, is something anyone can learn.

A comprehensive review of 245 studies published between 1992 and 2024 confirmed it: financial self-efficacy  –  the belief that your actions can change your financial future  –  is a learnable, trainable skill, and it is independently more predictive of real financial outcomes than literacy, income, or education alone.

None of us was born with it, so every single person who’s thriving because they feel like they have some sense of control over their circumstances picked that up as a skillset somewhere along the way.

This isn’t personality. It’s patterning.

When I had Penelope, I felt like the traumatic experience had happened to me, and I didn’t have a choice. (I later did the work to repattern this and reinsert agency, which changed everything.)

When I had Ruby 8 years ago today, I’d advocated for myself to have dual care between my OB/GYN practice and a local midwife, I’d advocated for myself to have a VBAC even when the doctors doubted me, I advocated for myself in the delivery room when the OB threatened me with forceps, a vacuum, and then another c-section. And I advocated for myself when I refused Pitocin, fiercely reminding the OB that if my body had been able to push out an 8lb, 10oz baby girl without the help of a medication, certainly it could deliver the placenta through the same mechanics.

And while I was left with a 4th degree tear, a hemorrhage, and broken blood vessels in my eyes and on my forehead, I was also left with a deep feeling of victory.

I’d met the moment full on. The moment wasn’t what I’d wanted or planned. That birth didn’t go anything like what I truly wanted. But I walked through the storm knowing that my choices would have a profound impact on the outcome.

And they did.

We’re in a storm right now.

You’ll meet it in one of two ways, depending on how you’re wired to respond.

For most people, it creates contraction, passivity, and a sense that things are happening to them.

But this is also the exact kind of environment where people who have trained themselves into agency start to separate.

Not because they know more.

Because they move differently when it matters.

Those who thrive during these times will be the ones who cultivate ONE single skillset:
CHOICE

The data is clear. We’ve seen it before. This time is no different.

Join me inside Good with Money, and we’ll build the ability to access choice when it matters – so your financial life starts moving with clarity, direction, and real momentum.

→ Claim your free seat now

I’m so grateful for my two daughters, the greatest gifts of my life, and how they came into the world in two very different ways, so I could learn how to meet the hard things in life in a way that guarantees thriving, not just surviving.

And I’m so honored to pass along the message to you today to help you with a very different, but equally important moment.

Xo,
Kate

Save your spot in Good With Money here.

The post A 100th percentile head came out of me 8 years ago appeared first on Kate Northrup.

Last week, we closed on our legacy house.

More space than I ever could have imagined. Expansion beyond my wildest dreams. The first house I’ve ever had that we won’t outgrow — energetically and logistically. This one has space for all of us.

On Saturday, which was also my birthday and the first day of spring, we had a few close friends over in classic Northrup-Watts style: nothing in the cabinets or drawers, no furniture, a foldable table, and lots of snacks. We wanted to fill the house with the energy of love from our community. And I could feel how happy the house felt with us there.

We’re also thisclose to listing our first Short Term Rental on Airbnb and VRBO — 99% Mike’s project, and he absolutely nailed it. A charming Maine cottage we can’t wait to share.

When you see someone else celebrating all kinds of expansion at the same time, it’s easy to assume something major just flipped a switch for them overnight.

And while sometimes that happens — a celebrity shares your work and you go from invisible to household name in 24 hours — 99% of the time, it’s the structural and internal shifts made over time that no one knows about. The ones that aren’t sexy enough for Instagram. The ones that lead to the moments worth celebrating in public.

This is about the part no one sees — but that determines everything.

Effort Creates Income. Systems Determine Whether It Stays.

It’s easy to believe the next level of income will solve the pressure. That once you hit that number, things will settle. Stabilize. Feel different.

But if money still feels inconsistent, hard to keep, or heavier than it should — more isn’t the solution it appears to be.

Because what actually determines whether money feels steady or stressful isn’t the amount. It’s the system underneath it.

Effort can generate income.

But only a system determines whether it actually stays, grows, and supports you.

The Hidden Money Ecosystem

Everyone has what I call a Hidden Money Ecosystem. It’s made up of two things:

The first is energetics — the invisible way you relate to money and feel about it. No one else can see it, but you feel it in your body every day.

The second is engineering — your financial systems, or the lack thereof. Hidden from the world, but known by you.

The combination of your energetics and your engineering creates the expression of your financial life.

Most people try to change the visible layer — the outcomes, the numbers, the results — and wonder why nothing sticks. But the expression only changes when the system underneath it does. Not through more effort. Not through more discipline. Through a different system entirely.

There are four possible states your Hidden Money Ecosystem could be in. And diagnosing which one yours is in tells you exactly where the bottleneck is — so you can tend to it, rebalance it, and let it work for you instead of against you.

All of the expansion we’re currently celebrating as a family and as a company came from fixing the leaks and clearing the blocks in our Hidden Money Ecosystem.

The Goal Isn’t Just More

More income that doesn’t stay isn’t expansion — it’s exhaustion with a better bank statement.

The goal is more that stays. More that supports you. More that grows.

When the nervous system finally feels safe with money — not just intellectually, but in the body — the relationship with it changes entirely. Money stops being something you chase and starts becoming something that moves toward you.

When the foundation is in place, expansion stops feeling like effort — and starts becoming inevitable.

None of this happened quickly for us. But it did happen predictably, once the underlying system changed.

Ready to See What’s Actually Happening With Your Money?

If money still feels like something you’re managing instead of something that supports you, it may be time to look at the system underneath — both the energetics and the engineering.

Good With Money is a free, live, 3-part financial upgrade experience for people who are ready to stop chasing relief through more — and start building something that actually holds. Something that supports your nervous system as much as your net worth.

Inside, you’ll learn how to identify where your money ecosystem is creating pressure, install a structure that turns income into stability, and create growth that feels clean rather than chaotic.

Save your spot in Good With Money here.

The post What Changed Before Everything Expanded (It Wasn’t What You Think) appeared first on Kate Northrup.

I’m curious:

What are you craving right now in your life, especially as it relates to abundance and money?

If you could have one problem fixed, what would it be?

And if you could have the experience around your finances that you really want, what would that look and feel like?

Will you take 1-3 minutes and share with me?

Don’t think about it. Just write what comes to you first. And then let your answers be your compass as new opportunities and decisions come your way to help steer you in the direction of your heart (which is also where abundance lives!)

Plus, your answers help me help you better, so TYIA.

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post Quick Question for You appeared first on Kate Northrup.

Since the year 2012 gave way to 2013, Mike and I have cuddled up somewhere and done an extensive Year-End Review and Planning ritual that we’ve refined and upgraded year by year.

It’s soulful, strategic, magical, and honestly, one of my favorite times of the year.

But you know what? We didn’t do it this holiday season.

I could easily point to the unexpected travel and the two funerals and a wedding that happened in December, all celebrations in their own different ways.

I could point to speaking gigs, end-of-year concerts, and the deep, unyielding desire to simply sit on the couch and read for hours at a time.

But the truth is: we haven’t done our official crossing from one year to the next ritual because it’s not time yet.

Despite how long I’ve been reminding folks that January 1st is cosmically and naturally a pretend start of the year (and my episode of Plenty this week explains why), for the past 13 years, we’ve still fit our strategic and soul planning into the box of the Gregorian Calendar.

And without meaning to, I think this year my soul simply said, “No more. It’s not time yet. This is not a time of new beginnings on the planet or in your body. Let’s wait.”

And so we are. And it feels really good.

(If you’re curious, we’re doing it the 3rd week of January while on a getaway for some Vitamin D.)

This year, I feel a reluctance to start fresh that’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

I don’t want the kids to go back to school tomorrow. I don’t want to get back to my routine. I feel like I need at least three more years of slow mornings reading with a cup of coffee by the fire.

I’m telling you this in case you feel this way too and have been beating yourself up about it. (I did a little bit of that and then remembered that my entire body of work is based on following the wisdom of the body and the wisdom of the Earth. And both of them right now are saying it’s time for slow.)

Relaxed Money Live comes around February 3rd and 4th in Nashville, the very same week that marks the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. It’s a time when the energetic quickening begins.

Then the Lunar New Year, aka the Chinese New Year, will welcome in the Year of the Fire Horse on February 17th, and another layer of momentum will return.

And then, the Vernal or Spring Equinox will mark the peak energetic time of new beginnings in our annual turn around the sun, on March 20th.

This is all to say, if you don’t feel like doing anything, welcome. I feel the same. It’s a sign that our bodies are synced right up with nature and we’ve reached a new level of depth, alignment, and wisdom.

Congratulations to us.

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post This Hasn’t Happened Since 2012 appeared first on Kate Northrup.

Last week, when the entire extended Northrup family was circled up in the cozy, fairy tale-like ski town in Western NY where my maternal line has been based for over 100 years, I had a quick conversation with one of my cousins:

“We’re cancelling everything this week. I don’t know why I thought I could toggle in and out of work this week,” I said.

“That’s pretty great that you’re able to do that. Just cancel it all,” he replied.

He was right, and I needed to be reminded of what a blessing it is to have the power to do nearly exactly what I want with my time.

Cancelling everything but one call so we could honor my late uncle’s life didn’t cause us to lose money or momentum.

The reason why is because we’ve had a subtle, yet seismic operating system running behind the scenes of our company since 2017. And when it comes to making more while doing less, it changes everything.

What is this operating system?

It’s our body-based planning and project management system – so baked into our flow, I often forget to name it.

And using this system is our number one strategy for making more while doing less.

If you’re wondering whether this model actually works in real time:

This year was not only our highest revenue year, it was our highest profit year, as well. The former is great, but the latter is what I shake my pom poms for because wealth (and freedom) are created from what you keep, not just what you make.

We’re also about to take nearly two entire weeks off as a company, that’s above and beyond the Paid Time Off our team receives.

(Heads up: I’m taking two weeks off from publishing Notes of Plenty and new Plenty episodes. We’ve got some fun playlists and roundups for you over the holidays, but the following Notes of Plenty and new Plenty episode will both be out the first full week of January.)

Also: this year we’ve only done one major launch – and it was still our most profitable year to date.

Our business is simple, spacious, and elegant.

And here’s the framework that makes this kind of relaxed business possible:

We challenge the status quo.

One of our company values is to question the way things are and ask if they really have to be that way. When it comes to making more money while having a spacious schedule, breaking out of the assumption that more money = more effort is the first step. And surrounding yourself with examples of people whose income is not tied to the number of hours they work.

We choose our frequency more than we chase goals.

We know that who we’re being is far more important than what we’re doing. Our alignment, our integrity, and how we’re doing the work (meaning how the process feels) creates our magnetism. We don’t limit ourselves (or the Universe) with results-oriented goals that are somewhat arbitrary and based on the illusion that “there’s any there there,” and instead we cultivate feeling as aligned as possible along the way.

We let nature and our bodies guide our workflow.

Body first, business second. That’s our company motto. We don’t expect ourselves or the company to be in a season of harvest all year long. We build in seasons of rest, seasons of planting, seasons of reaping, and seasons of winding down. Mother Nature is responsible for the natural world, the most abundant system we know of. So we follow her cues for regenerative abundance.

We know that 80% of our results will come from 20% of our actions, and we’re devoted to the 20%.

We focus on what we know moves the needle. We double down on it. We refine it. When we feel we’re getting lost chasing shiny objects, we come back to the 20% that brings us 80% of the results. We track this in our revenue, in our offers, and in our customers.

We let things go.

We let other people do things when they’re not in our highest and best (not just Mike and me, but everyone else on the team, too). We play like a team because we are. If someone needs support, we encourage them to ask. We encourage everyone to delegate. The business doesn’t thrive unless everyone is lit up by what they’re doing and working ever closer to their Zone of Genius.

We let the systems hold us.

When you don’t have systems and structures in place, you have to depend on your brain to hold everything. It’s stressful and massively limits your capacity. When you have systems and structure, though, you get to flow and be free.

I teach you how to implement all of these things (and more strategies to do less and make more) inside Heal the Way You Work and it’s 50% off right now.

Which one of these relaxed business principles do you most need to focus on right now? Reply back and let us know! Your response helps us know what to make more of in the future.

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post The Secret System Behind Our Best Year Yet appeared first on Kate Northrup.

My Uncle John, my mom’s oldest brother, passed away last week. We’re all together this week, grieving the loss and celebrating what a legend he was.

If you’re one of our Relaxed Money students, you may remember him from the module on Making More Money.

If not, I’ll simply say that he’s the man who taught me to see opportunity, ways to add value, and ways to be of service everywhere. He was the embodiment of steadfast love, and he impacted the way I do business in a profound way.

He showed up for people in ways big and small, and in his final days, the number of people who came to say goodbye was astounding.

He was a living example that it’s possible to make the world a better place, enjoy ourselves, and make great money all at the same time.

As I prepped to give a keynote on Monday morning, before flying to gather with family that afternoon, I started listing out what I needed to get done on the plane.

We’re closing our most profitable year in business, and I was planning on teaching a masterclass next week on what we did (and did not do) to make that record-breaking achievement possible.

But as I felt the adrenaline building in my body as I prepared to get on stage, mixed with the heaviness in my heart, I knew what I needed to do.

Instead of creating the masterclass and doing a more complex promotion, I just said: let’s go email and social only.

It feels like this season is inviting us to simplify.

I wrote a quick note to the team and let them know we were going to streamline the plan.

My Uncle John was also one of the most direct people I’ve ever met. So in his honor, I’m just gonna say it like it is:

Originally, I had planned to announce at the end of next week’s masterclass that my program on cyclical, body-based planning, Heal the Way You Work, will be 50% off with two bonuses you might drool a little over. (Maybe we’ll even share some of those peak profitability tips as another bonus – reply back and let me know if you’d be interested!)

But what kind of body-based planning teacher would I be if I tried to squeeze more work in while all I want is to laugh and cry with my family in remembrance of an incredible man who left a beautiful, indelible mark on the world?

Not the kind I want to be, that’s for sure.

Instead of creating the masterclass, I just said: let’s go email and social only.

Sometimes the decisions we make in alignment with the truth of who we are are simple and quiet, like a 6:30am chat message to the team letting them know we’re changing course to honor what matters.

Sometimes these decisions are seismic, like dissolving a contract or sending a giant refund because the work feels out of alignment.

But whether huge or tiny, they all matter.

Wherever this season finds you, I wonder:

What could you take off your plate to honor your body and your heart?

What could you simplify?

What can you de-commit from?

We can never be reminded enough times that when all’s said and done, it’ll never be how much we got done that mattered.

It will be how much of our life we were actually present for and how much love we were able to give and receive as a result.

My Uncle John was the epitome of a man who showed up for the things and people who mattered, and it’s my honor to show up for his memory in this way this week.

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post We Lost a Legend Last Week appeared first on Kate Northrup.

I’m over here working my tush off on a keynote I’m giving at my friend James Wedmore’s BBD Live event next week. (If you’re there, please say hi!)

I’m waking up every morning thinking about it. The concepts are weaving their way through my dreams.

Here’s something you should know about me:

I’m really good at other peoples’ secrets but not so good at keeping my own.

All I wanna do is tell you everything that I’ve realized since October. It’s been a mega divine reorganization portal in my life. (Not a rupture in any way. It’s been a gentle, divine reorganization that’s been reshaping everything.)

However, an email isn’t the appropriate container for the scope of what I’m working on.

Instead, I’ll be debuting pieces of it on stage on Monday. And mostly I’m pouring all of it into the chapters of my new book.

Plus, I’ll be revealing this refined body of work at Relaxed Money Live in February in Nashville! (Do you have your ticket yet?)

As much as the enthusiasm bubbling through me wants to tell you everything, here’s what I’ve learned:

There’s power in containment.

Learning to withstand the positive internal pressure of letting an idea or a piece of news marinate inside of us without blasting the energy out into the world until it’s time is one of the most important parts of building our capacity for life force.

Said another way:

Holding your brilliance builds your charge-it lights you up from the inside out. It reconnects you to Source in a way that leaking it out immediately just never can.

Is there anything you could keep to yourself this week, just a little longer than feels comfortable?

What if you let it cook inside until it’s ready to be savored by the external world? What if you let the energy inside you build a little bit?

I’m learning to love this edge. Maybe you will too.

And, of course, I cannot wait to share what’s bubbling over here once it’s fully cooked and flavorful enough to be ready to share!

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post The Truth I’ve Been Holding Back appeared first on Kate Northrup.

Friday morning I walked into the kitchen and Mike announced he was taking the girls to Maine for a spontaneous trip to check on the short-term rental we recently bought and are renovating (next-level passive income project incoming!)

“You’ve got 3 days at home to yourself.”

I realized I haven’t spent a weekend alone at home in a decade. Sure, I travel without the kids for work, girls’ trips, and getaways with Mike.

Me, home alone—with no one to care for and no plans?

It felt like heaven.

It was a gift so big I wouldn’t have ever asked for it.

It’s also evidence of something that clicked for me in Egypt about manifesting abundance that’s so major, I couldn’t keep it to myself.

The full story of what happened in Egypt is something I’m saving for my new book (though folks who come to Relaxed Money Live are gonna get a big early helping of what I received there!)

For the purposes of short and sweet, here’s what I’ll say:

I finally understand why I’ve always struggled with specificity when it comes to what I’m wanting to manifest…and why great stuff shows up anyway.

Are you someone who has trouble when you’re instructed to get hyper-specific with visualizing or describing what it is you want to call in?

When a guided meditation or book asks me to do that, I go all tight and crunchy inside. It’s really the opposite of flow. It’s like my energetic pipe gets immediately clogged.

Suddenly, I’m trying too hard and feeling like I’m not manifesting correctly. It really doesn’t feel good (which is precisely the opposite of how I know manifesting works!)

And yet, beautiful gifts like this weekend at home alone have been showing up at an even more rapid pace than usual lately:

The invitations to Onsite and Egypt—experiences worth tens of thousands I never paid for. An all expenses paid trip to the Four Seasons in Maui. My biggest keynote invitation to date.

Here’s what flies in the face of much of the traditional manifesting advice:

I did not visualize or ask for any of these things specifically. Like I said, when I try to get specific about what I want, I get energetically constipated.

So what’s going on here?

Turns out, magnetism doesn’t require specificity, especially if it stops you up faster than eating an unripe banana.

My experience has been the opposite: the more I live in integrity and the less I focus on manifesting, the less I have to “order from the menu”… and the better things get.

When our inner world (values, desires, boundaries) matches our outer world (choices, behaviors, relationships), our field gets so coherent that life keeps delivering possibilities we never would have had the audacity—or the imagination—to ask for.

Like three unexpected days of solitude that reminded me: abundance often arrives as what we need, not what we planned.

(If specificity opens up your energetic channels, please go with that. I’m not here to turn off a tap that’s already flowing!)

I can’t wait to tell the story and share the science of why this works at our live event and in my book, but for now you can start playing with this question:

Where am I being radically honest with myself—and where am I still splitting my energy?

Where am I saying yes when I mean no? Where am I settling? Where am I talking myself out of my brilliance and “hiding my light under a bushel”, as my mom often says?

The idea here is that in order to live a life of financial, time, and relational abundance beyond our wildest imaginings, we don’t have to police our thoughts to make sure they’re positive all the time. We don’t have to wallpaper our home in vision boards. In my experience, we don’t even need to visualize (though go for it if it works for you because there’s so much great evidence that it works!)

All we need to do is live in alignment with the truth of who we are and have our actions and words be a match for what’s going on inside us.

Authenticity. Alignment. Integrity. That’s the formula for magnetism.

Also: 10/10 recommend putting time alone at home on your holiday wish list! This 3-days alone has been worth millions in terms of the creative regeneration, deep rest, and time to simply be with my truest self. I want you to have that, too.

These 3 days reminded me that the greatest manifestations often arrive as gifts we didn’t even know how to ask for—because they come from the part of us that’s already aligned, not the part still trying to prove, push, or plan it all out.

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post A Gift So Big I Never Would’ve Dared Ask appeared first on Kate Northrup.

This weekend was a first:

I brought my kids with me to a speaking gig.

They’re 7 and 10, and I had my bestie from Miami on kid-duty while I was at the event.

And yet, when we got there and I realized there was only one bed for the 3 of us and the hotel room was full of blinking LED lights galore, glowing thermostats, and light switches that lit up the room, I spiraled.

Why did I add the extra complication of bringing my kids along when I needed to channel my energy into showing up and shining for a dear friend’s expertly executed event?

Spoiler alert: The trip didn’t go anything like I had planned.

I brought my kids because just a week and a half earlier, I’d gotten back from over two weeks away from them – and I couldn’t stomach getting on another plane without them.

And while I was for sure questioning my sanity that first night, it turns out choosing integration over compartmentalization was totally the move.

“I cried tears of joy when she walked out on stage,” my 10-year-old told my husband when he asked her what it was like to see Mama up there doing her thing.

It’s one thing to try and explain what we do to the people we love. It’s quite another for them to experience it in real time.

My girls and my best friend’s daughter got to soak up the energy of 150 women entrepreneurs playing a very big game. And they got to witness their mama feeling deeply at home in that room.

(Our household manager from our time in Miami came for a bit, too, and having her hug me and tell me how proud of me she was when I came off stage was such good maternal love medicine.)

I got to be all of me – and be seen in it. The mom. The speaker. The visionary. The author. The seeker. Even the nervous nelly the night before.

My girls are old enough now to sit quietly at the back of the room, playing with the babies and soaking in the vibe. Until they weren’t. They even made a surprise stage appearance mid-exercise to thank Leanne Mosley, the magnetic host, for letting them be there at Soft Girl Millions Live.

(I was a tad horrified to turn my head during the sharing and see my kiddos on stage! But it was a perfect lesson for me in expanding my capacity to feel safe taking up space, and Leanne was graciously delighted to be the icon for the trio of little girls dreaming big.)

Of course, there are times when integration just isn’t the move. I don’t bring my kids on date night, for example. A toddler at this event? Not only wildly inappropriate, but a logistical nightmare. And I don’t unpack my deepest personal issues during a pitch meeting.

But in this season, I’m realizing that the more spaces I show up as all of me, the more abundance flows. It opens energetic channels where my different roles don’t compete – they cross-pollinate.

I can already feel how being all of me this weekend acted as rich compost for what came next. My dear friend Liz and I unexpectedly stepped into a portal of expansion during a post-event walk and dinner – what can only be described as a watershed moment that catalyzed liftoff.

And as I write to you this beautiful Monday morning, the delicious, full-body vibrancy of the weekend is still pulsing through my cells. It wouldn’t have landed the same if I hadn’t shared it with my girls.

Maybe this week, when you feel like you have to put on a mask and pretend your heart isn’t breaking because someone you love is at the end of their life, or that you can’t mention you have kids because you’ll be seen as less desirable in business or love…what if you just integrated?

What if you took your next business call on the phone instead of on Zoom and got your steps in at the same time?

What if you got coffee with a friend while your kids play on a playground instead of trying to find an extra hour that you don’t have?

What if you stopped at the grocery store with your boo on the way home from date night and turned the produce section into a subtle seduction zone?

When we overly compartmentalize our lives, we block the flow of energy, and that impacts not only our finances, but also our fundamental life force.

You don’t need to perform for your life to work.
You don’t need to compartmentalize to be taken seriously.
You can show up as all of you.

Where can you choose integration over compartmentalization this week? I’d love to hear – where are you integrating instead of hiding this week?

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post I Brought My Kids on Stage… What Was I Thinking? 😅 (Photos Inside!) appeared first on Kate Northrup.

Codependency has been surrounding me lately.

(I mean… I guess it always is. But this feels different.)

It’s a pattern I thought I’d graduated from—but here it is again, revealing itself in new ways.

First, I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s beautifully honest new memoir, All the Way to the River. I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t relate just a little.

The morning after I read that chapter, I attended the most brilliant codependency workshop while I was at Onsite doing their Living Centered Program. (10/10 recommend for rapid repatterning and deep healing.)

Then the Egypt pilgrimage didn’t just push my buttons. It pushed a lot of people’s buttons. People whose energy fields I could have easily hopped into to try to save them from their experiences. But I didn’t. Because it wasn’t my job.

And I’ve got a few people I love very deeply staring family patterns of addiction and codependency square in the eye for the first time.

I’m also reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s newer book, The Serviceberry. (She also wrote Braiding Sweetgrass, which changed my life.)

The book is about interdependence—an economy of reciprocity that feels like an exhale.

In these times when news of systems failing to care for life is pervasive, I’ve been thinking about something:

What’s the difference between generosity and codependency?

Where’s the line between caring for our people and our planet vs. abandoning ourselves by getting lost in the sauce of the suffering of those around us to our own detriment?

At first reading, the line might feel so obvious.

One is sane. One is not.

But for those of us who developed the skills of reading the room and only behaving in ways that would keep those around us happy, the line can get real blurry real fast.

We’re deep in creation around our biggest live event of the year, Relaxed Money Live.

(Keep your eye on your inbox if you’re a Relaxed Money student to grab your ticket. If you’re not a Relaxed Money student and you feel the pull to join us, reply back to this email .)

The theme landed as I emailed one of my sheroes to invite her to speak (she said yes, BTW, and I cannot wait to both meet her IRL for the first time and also reveal who it is!):

OVERFLOW

Not overflow meaning too much.

Overflow meaning more than enough.

t’s the energetic signature of relaxed wealth—the place where giving becomes a joy, not a drain.

When it comes to generosity (whether it’s financial, energetic, logistical, or spiritual), for me it comes down to this:

Am I replete?

Am I experiencing sufficiency in this area so that what I’m giving is from the overflow?

I see a lot of codependency show up in our community as it relates to the way we relate to money.

Overgiving to friends, family, or even loved ones from a place rooted in:

“They’re not capable of doing this for themselves. They don’t have their own direct access to Source, so let me go ahead and become their Source.”

It’s rooted in:

I can’t feel ok if you’re not ok.

Codependency around money isn’t generosity. It’s rooted in being under-practiced and under-resourced in our ability to sit with our own pain.

(Therefore, distracting ourselves with “helping” other people.)

Generosity, on the other hand?

Generosity is rooted in overflow.

It’s the bubbling up of energy, resources, and even money that comes from making sure we’re truly ok first, then turning our attention outward to joyfully channel our resources so they can flow beyond our personal needs.

It’s when you feel resourced enough that spending an hour listening to and being a sounding board for a friend who’s having a hard time leaves you feeling peaceful and more connected when you hang up the phone.

It’s giving to causes that you love and trust after you’ve met your own financial needs, have a financial cushion in the bank, have paid off your high-interest Invoices for Blessings Already Received, and are investing.

My dear friend and mentor Barbara Huson says the rules of Sacred Wealth are:

“Spend less, save more, invest wisely, and give generously. IN. THAT. ORDER.

Anything else is an act of self-sabotage.”

Some folks revert to scarcity over and over again because they think they’re being generous, but actually, they’re being codependent.

(This can be true with money and with any other resource, tangible and intangible.)

This is why our money work starts in the body—not in the budget.

So, how about you?

Where in your life are you sharing from overflow when it comes to time, energy, and money?

And where are you giving in a way that it leaves you depleted?

This is subtle, and no one else could possibly know from the outside.

But you know.

And being honest about the line between generosity and codependency is a powerful step to a deep well of prosperity that makes overflow inevitable.

Interdependence is not the same as taking care of others at the expense of oneself.

Find sufficiency. Then find overflow and direct it.

That’s how wealth becomes regenerative—first for you, then through you.

Ready to Reset Your Relationship with Money?

If your nervous system feels stretched thin by money, time, or expectations—it may be time for a reset.

Join me for The Money Reset — a guided experience to bring your money back into alignment with your body, your values, and your true capacity.

This isn’t about more striving or spreadsheets.

It’s about safety.It’s about sovereignty.

It’s about remembering your agency—financially, emotionally, and energetically.

Learn more about The Money Reset here.

The post Where Generosity Crosses the Line appeared first on Kate Northrup.