One of the most common types of stressor is financial issues. When you’re experiencing problems with your finances, you are likely experiencing a myriad of other issues connected to them – for example, you may also be worried about your health, your family, or your career.
When you’re feeling the strain of financial stress, it’s important to manage its effects on your mental health. Consider the following tips to ease your stress levels when finances are tough.
Tip 1: Reach out to someone you trust for help.
A good support system can make all the difference in any stressful situation, but when finances are involved, finding someone with whom you can trust to discuss your issues can be incredibly relieving. A good, trusted confidant can help you examine your issues from an outsider’s perspective – they may even have some good advice for approaching your problems.
Tip 2: Make sure you’re engaging in some self care activities that help you relax.
Self care doesn’t need to be expensive. If you’re struggling with financial stress, there are plenty of free ways you can take good care of yourself and relax, no matter how stressful your financial issues are. Some examples of cost-free self care activities include…
- Taking a nap
- Taking a long, hot bath or shower
- Calling a friend to catch up
- Reading a good book or watching a favorite TV show
- Practicing meditation and/or deep breathing exercises
Tip 3: Let yourself temporarily “step away” from the problems.
Giving yourself permission to temporarily “step away” from your problems is a good way to breathe, regroup, and prepare yourself to approach your financial issues again with renewed energy. If you face particularly stressful situations, such as money problems, repeatedly without giving yourself time to rest, you cannot expect to maintain the mental stamina needed to really solve those problems. Let yourself step away to relax, refocus, and regroup – you’ll be able to face the problem again with your energy levels intact.
Tip 4: Allow yourself to really feel and experience the emotions you’re having rather than hiding or ignoring them.
Financial stress can stir a lot of heavy emotions, such as anger, frustration, guilt, depression, anxiety, and more. When these emotions arise, many people feel like ignoring or hiding them is the best way to handle them. However, this only makes problems worse – eventually, those emotions will resurface even worse than they felt when your problems first started.
Instead, give yourself permission to feel all those yucky feelings. Pay attention to your situation and how it’s affecting you. Taking note of these feelings, acknowledging them, and feeling them is the first step toward moving through them so you can really begin to work toward fixing your financial stress issues.
Tip 5: Identify exactly what causes you stress about your finances.
This tip is closely related to #4. Emotions are already difficult to decode sometimes, but once you finally understand what you’re feeling, it’s crucial to identify exactly what’s causing those emotions to emerge. Knowing exactly what it is about your finances that is causing you stress is the key toward building a strategy that will help you solve the problem quicker and protect your mental health.
Tip 6: Create a plan to follow that will help you alleviate your financial issues.
Having a plan is good for your mental health. Instead of feeling like you’re spinning around hopelessly in a vortex of financial issues, taking time to slow down and create a plan can make tackling your problems feel much more doable. Let yourself really evaluate your problems, prioritize them, and begin approaching them one step at a time.
