The invoice has just shown up in the mail...it's time to pay that 50% for your reception, or your florist's next deposit fee, the next installment for your photographer's fee...and the sheer enormity of that dollar amount can knock you right off your feet. Whether you're the one opening the checkbook, or you have to hand the bill to your parents, big-money days are a drain on everyone's peace of mind. Especially in the first few months when you don't have anything tangible to look at, no gown or cake or favor samples, when it seems like all you're doing is writing checks or whipping out the Visa card. You haven't gotten into the fun stuff yet, so of course it's going to drag you down a little to see sooo much money flowing away from you.

Yesterday was a Deposit Due day for us, and that was a quiet time at the dinner table. Reality can pack a punch. Something about The Money bubbles up a lot of worries, especially when you've got a calculator in your head and each bill is turning into a cartoon-type rendering of 'that would be an entire fall wardrobe' or 'that would be a trip to Bermuda' or 'that was what a semester cost at college.'

I could tell you to shake it off, focus on the positive of what that money will bring to you, but you know what? It DOES drag you down a little, and sometimes you just have to allow yourself a few hours of recovering from that blow to your coffers. I'm taking a few hours this morning to watch a mindless movie on cable, take a lavender bath [with full gratitude to my fiance Joe for hunting down my brand of bath oil at the store as a groom kindness to his bride], brew some pomegranate tea, and read a magazine. Because the money issue will stay with me as long as I let it. Any minute now, the phone could ring with a new book deal. Last night, one of my editors assigned me two articles, and I haven't even celebrated that yet. Whatever your personal opinion of positive thinking gurus and the law of attraction, it *is* a smarter strategy to just decompress on money due days and expect a little windfall or a modest engagement gift check in the mail. If you don't get sucked down by big dollar signs, you stay mobile and upbeat and ready to take steps to bring in more abundance.

It IS okay to register the wallop of big money due days. Just don't stay down for long. There's so much else out there that's waiting for you to enjoy.