Rebuilding Life, Wealth, and Worth on Your Own Terms
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Jacqueline Crider
There’s a moment when the fire stops feeling like your enemy.
When you realize it isn’t here to destroy you — it’s here to forge you.
For me, that moment came in the middle of one of the hardest seasons of my life. It was the kind of season that strips you bare — personally, professionally, financially. The kind of season where the “right” way you were told to live suddenly feels like a cage.
I’d spent years following the rules. I was disciplined, responsible, and determined to “do everything right.” But behind the polished exterior was a woman quietly burning out. Life had checked every box I was told to want… and yet, I felt disconnected from all of it.
That’s the heartbeat of my chapter, Rise of the Phoenix, in the upcoming anthology, Becoming an Unstoppable Woman. It’s about the moment I stopped trying to fit my life into someone else’s blueprint — and started creating a life and financial reality that finally felt like mine.
We’re taught from an early age that there’s a formula to success:
Work hard.
Save diligently.
Stay on the safe path.
Ignore the whispers of what you really want.
And for many women, we follow it faithfully — only to wake up one day wondering why we feel unfulfilled.
When I was at my breaking point, I realized the problem wasn’t me. It was the formula. I had been trying to build a life with tools that didn’t match my values, personality, or vision. When we live out of alignment long enough, life will find a way to demand change.
My turning point wasn’t a neat, cinematic moment. It was messy. It was raw. And it was honest.
I asked myself: If nothing was off the table, what would I build? Who would I become?
The answers terrified me — because they required letting go of the approval I had been chasing my entire life. They also set me free.
I stopped chasing “should” and started building a path around alignment. That shift didn’t just change how I handled money. It changed how I lived, loved, and worked.
When I rebuilt, I didn’t start with a spreadsheet. I started with a vision.
Where was I going? What did I want my days to feel like? Who did I want to be when I looked back on my life?
Only then did I reverse-engineer my finances, my business, and my choices to match that vision. And now, that’s the foundation of my work with women through Financial Mastery Simplified.
Because here’s the truth: Financial empowerment isn’t about memorizing money rules. It’s about learning to trust yourself with your money — and with your life.
One client once told me, “I feel like I’ve been given permission to finally live my life the way I want to, without apology.” That’s alignment.
If you’re reading this and you feel stuck — maybe you’ve done “everything right” and still feel like you’re not where you want to be — I want you to hear me:
You’re not broken. You’re just ready for a new way forward.
Your phoenix moment might not look like mine. But the fire you’re walking through right now? It can be the catalyst that helps you rise higher than you ever imagined.
My chapter is my story. But it’s also a mirror — a reminder that the same is possible for you.
Jax Crider, founder of PBJ Mortgage/Financial Mastery Simplified, helping women ditch the “shoulds,” trust their money instincts, create financial freedom without guilt.
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