Being stressed in any area of life can feel debilitating. Particularly when the source of the stress is financial. However, this is no cause to lose heart. There are always moves you can make that will improve your circumstances. The following six steps for managing financial stress will help you do just that, setting you off on a better path.
1| Take Stock
When the burden of monetary responsibilities starts to feel like a lead weight, it’s a good moment to reflect on what is truly important to you. Most of us have many little drains on our finances that we’ve neglected to consider. When you look at where these exist for you and consider what is actually necessary, it’s common to discover that there are many things you can easily live without. A surprisingly freeing realization that also helps to relieve financial stress.
2| Optimize Your Time
A primary culprit in financial duress is wasting time. Spending too much energy chasing phantoms down social media rabbit holes. Ruminating on all the things that you need to do while doing nothing. Sidelining your self-care regimen because “there isn’t any time.”
Stress is multifaceted. It can be physical, emotional, or psychological. However, the answer to dealing with any flavor of upset that manifests is to calm your system and make choices that support you as you move forward. Taking charge of how you spend your time is crucial in this process. What you do repeatedly defines your days. Make your repeat behaviors serve you rather than undermine you, this is a great use of your time.
3| Breathe
When you get worked up, your heart rate increases, sweat releases from your sudoriferous glands, and higher mental function get sidelined as you search for who you must fight or the nearest escape route so you can flee. In this state, you will not be thinking clearly. Hence, the decisions you arrive at are unlikely to serve you optimally.
This is where breathwork comes in. Slowing your breathing, and focusing on long exhales, can help your body to return to a state of equilibrium, activating your parasympathetic (rest/digest) nervous system. From this place of centered calm, you can begin to troubleshoot your way through the challenges ahead of you. You’ll be surprised by how many more options you’ll begin to discover. This is a great tool you can return to any time stress, financial or otherwise, rears its ugly head.
4| Talk About It
One of the common attributes of financial worry is a feeling of isolation. Talking to people you trust about your experience can help the burden feel lighter. It can also provide you with fresh perspectives on your problems. Another benefit is that you’ll learn about what other people are shouldering and it will be clearer that everyone has their struggles and you are not alone after all.
5| Get Creative
Coming up with inventive methods to excise unneeded expenditures and figuring out how to reduce costs by making more of what you use can be a great way to gain new skills and keep money from escaping your wallet.
Another way to get creative is to consider side hustles you might be able to employ to bring in a little extra cash. Play to your skills and to what you enjoy. Perhaps that hobby could become something more? Don’t be afraid to try, you got this.
6| Ask For Help
Everybody needs a hand sometimes. It might come in the form of a loan, a grant, or a financial assistance program. However, it could also manifest as work trade, asking a friend to help with a project/childcare/counsel, or some other non-monetary form of aide.
The big thing is to see that asking for help is a strength worthy of cultivating. Working together is the best way to manage financial stress because it makes things operate more smoothly and brings joy to your life at the same time.
