defying scarcity

weekly story work exercise

Apr 06, 2025

If you’re new here, paid subscribers receive Story Work exercises every Sunday night at 8 pm et. Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative is the name of my new book which is forthcoming from Broadleaf in November 2025. The term describes my signature process of reflecting, reclaiming, and reimagining the stories of our lives. It involves looking at your life experiences as creative material that you have the power to shape. For the next few weeks, our story work theme is Defying Scarcity. This first post in the series is open to all subscribers.

a sign that says hope always on it — Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” ― Anaïs Nin

For as long as I can remember, I expected life to be a struggle, and so it was. Always prepared to be a day late and a dollar short, I wore a confident mask that hid a defeated mindset. I overlooked my authentic, spiritual wealth, only to obsess over what I couldn’t afford, achieve, or master. I saw the world through a lens of scarcity, zoomed in on what I lacked instead of what I had. My hard work and accomplishments were never enough, and I saw myself as an underachiever.

defining scarcity

Scarcity mindset is a pattern of thinking that affects how you see the world and yourself:

a tendency to focus on what you don’t have and to take what you do have for granted
the perception that there are limited resources, so if someone else has something, there is less for you
making decisions and framing situations based on the assumption that who you authentically are is not enough
a tunnel-visioned perspective that concentrates on problems instead of solutions

There is a difference between actual scarcity and scarcity mindset. Scarcity is not having some or all of the things that are necessary for survival.

Meanwhile, scarcity mindset is a survival-based defense mechanism. A cognitive distortion that creates the illusion that something is true when it’s not.

A scarcity mindset/mentality is what keeps many of us from believing our dreams are possible and taking the aligned actions needed to bring them to life.

…

defying scarcity

For the next few weeks, our story work theme is Defying Scarcity. We will examine the scarcity mindset: how it affects our creative work and our lifestyles, and how we can reframe it through self-discovery and storytelling.

First, we need to recognize how it shows up in our lives. In America, we are conditioned to hustle for time, money, validation, and success, often connecting these things to our sense of security. A scarcity mindset says that there is not enough to go around, and more abstractly, it says that we are not worthy enough to receive.

Scarcity mindset manifests differently in each person. I recognize both the nature and nurture of its influence in my life and how it has shaped my self-concept and many of my life circumstances and decisions. A few examples:

It’s in my lineage. Racial trauma is passed down through generations, and the survival mentality that my ancestors had to adopt to stay alive still lives in my bones.

It’s in my upbringing. In my childhood, the rug was always being pulled out from under me. If I wasn’t vigilant, a good day could turn into a bad day simply because I said the wrong thing or made an honest mistake.

It’s in the air. Scarcity is the dominant narrative in the world around us. It seeps into us through the media, commercials, movies, etc., and then it seeps out into our internal and external narratives.

In small talk with coworkers: “You know, they only promote people who don’t have kids and are able to work late.”

In our thoughts when scrolling social media: “Everyone else seems to have it all figured out. Why can’t I get my life together?”

In our life goals and dreams: “This is my last chance. If I fail, then I will never reach my goal.”

And we all see how harmful the scarcity narrative can be when it shows up as toxic rhetoric in divisive communities: “The ‘others’ are taking over and stealing our jobs. There won’t be anything left for us."

When you really pay attention, you can find hints of scarcity in almost every conversation.

To defy scarcity, you can start paying attention to your self-talk and the conversations you have with others to start slowly redirecting the narrative. (You have to be patient with yourself. It’s an uphill battle at first, but it gets easier and easier with time.)

Instead of following the familiar assumptions and fears that scarcity thinking presents, you can ask yourself questions like: What else could be true? How can I turn this obstacle into an opportunity? How can I shift my perspective from lack to gratitude?

a white and yellow object with writing on it — Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

reframing scarcity

In my forthcoming book, Story Work, I write at length about understanding the stories we tell ourselves and the actions needed to reclaim power over our narrative, starting with questioning our assumptions, beliefs, and patterns of thought.

In this series, we will apply this to how we approach our creative callings.

Life as a writer, artist, or entrepreneur makes you especially vulnerable to the scarcity mindset because you have to be perpetually creating opportunities for yourself and facing rejection. There are times when it feels like there will never be enough ideas, money, or opportunities to give you the stability and assurance that you want.

When I left my job, I had to practically wear a suit of armor to fight off all the scarcity that (mostly well-meaning) people were throwing my way. Over the past twelve years, I have learned to duck and dodge the limited thinking:

“You can’t turn blogging into a writing career.”
“No one will care about your life story if you’re not famous.”
“Don’t bother looking for an agent if you’re not already well-connected.”
“If your book doesn’t fit neatly into a certain genre, you won’t be able to sell it.”

Not to mention the voice of my own inner critic over the years:

“If my first words are not perfect, then I’m not a good writer.”
“Compared to other writers, my voice is not special enough.”
“If I say the wrong thing, I will experience the same rejection I did with my mom.”
“Many of the peers I started with are way more successful than me, so maybe that’s a sign that I don’t measure up.”
“Time is running out. If I don’t hurry up and create all the things I dream of, it will be too late.”

And, so on. Have these thoughts and comments distracted me? Yes. But have they stopped me? Hell no.

Early on, I started gravitating to people who thought, spoke, and moved through fear differently. They put themselves out there and took up space. Energy is infectious, and if you’re surrounded by scarcity-minded folks, you have to be proactive about not letting their beliefs become yours and being sure to fill your cup with abundance elsewhere.

For every limiting belief that is thrown at you, there is an exception, a miracle, an example of someone defying scarcity with their faith and audacity.

What could happen if you approached your creative life with a sense of abundance, fueled by the things that can’t be taken away?

abundance in action

Dr. Maya Angelou said:
“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

Creativity itself is a source of abundance that can’t be taken away.

Abundance mindset is:

instead of feeling limited by what you don’t have, focusing on the opportunities that you do have
the belief that there is enough opportunity in the world for everyone
the belief that you are inherently worthy and have the capacity to learn, adjust, and evolve

The creative journey is a pathway to learn how to think and live abundantly through alignment with your values, a growth mindset, gratitude, community, and more. Over the next few weeks, we will explore practical ways to defy scarcity in our creative work.

Exercise:

This week’s exercise is to write about something that you have perceived as a limitation in the past.

Self-Discovery

First, make a list of things that you have felt a sense of scarcity around, like you don’t and never will have enough. You can list tangible things like possessions as well as conceptual things like romance. Include things you have been dealing with for years as well as more recent things based on where you are in your life right now and the current events around you.
Choose one to focus on for this exercise. Acknowledge the part of you that feels the sense of lack and let it speak on the page. When do you first remember feeling that way? What was happening? Leverage both showing and telling in your recall.

Storytelling