Does money affect your mental health?

Well we sure know not having enough does. December can be a really tough month for many people. Parents are really struggling right now with the cost of food and housing, everything has gone through the roof!!

I am not here to give you any financial advice because, well I am not an expert in money management and have certainly felt the stresses of being over extended in my own life and in my business. 

However, in my practice I work with those who would not be able to afford counseling or therapy if it was not funded. So I am grateful to be able to support those who need it and do not have the funds to pay for it. But not all people have access to support. So what do they do in this mental health crisis? 

Financial anxiety is real and causes real problems in people's lives. The cycle of financial struggle affects everyone in the family and in the community. We see it in skyrocketing crime and drug and alcohol issues and then in domestic violence. Struggling with money has so many implications far and wide. 

Here are some tips from the following article: https://www.choosingtherapy.com/money-anxiety

The following are 21 tips for how to cope with money anxiety:

1. Shift your perspective: Try to avoid negative thoughts (fear-based or catastrophic thinking) about finances, instead focusing on abundant thinking (positive, solution-focused, and open to possibilities).
2. Improve your psychology of money: This includes your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors around money, your relationship with money, and your behaviors in financial relationships with others.
3. Pay attention to mental health: Consider if an underlying mental health, substance use, or relationship issue is contributing to your money anxiety and if you need to address it.
4. Separate from the harmful aspects of ego: You are not your financial problems. Know that self-worth is internal, not external (title, possessions, bank account). You are innately worthy.
5. Shift from blame to responsibility: Stop blaming your parents, your partner, the economy, the government, or anyone else for your financial problems–take responsibility for your financial life. This is empowering and the only way to create change.
6. Practice “Thought Stopping”:  When you have thoughts that exacerbate your money anxiety, simply tell yourself, “STOP.” Redirect your thoughts to something else, preferably something positive.
7. Use CBT “Thought Records”: Certain cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) exercises help you to restructure negative or irrational thoughts that fuel money anxiety.
8. Improve your financial literacy: Take an online personal finance course, read financial books, listen to money podcasts, and follow financial experts on social media. Ask to meet with a representative at your bank, credit union, or consumer credit counseling service.
9. Make a budget: This is important in order to make sure you are rooted in reality. If you learn things aren’t as bad as you thought, you will feel better; if you face the reality of how bad they actually are, awareness is the first step towards improving the situation.16
10. Improve your hireability: Increase your education or training, seek vocational or career counseling, or work with a recruiter or job placement company.
11. Apply mindfulness to your financial life: Stop second-guessing the past or worrying about the future. Avoid “future tripping” or writing fiction about the unknown future. You can be responsive, rather than reactive, in financial actions and planning when you are grounded in the here and now.
12. Practice meditation: Meditation is like a reboot for the mind, body, and spirit. It can facilitate mental calmness and equanimity. It can also help you detach from ego and connect with your deeper self within, which is helpful for making more grounded and informed financial decisions.
13. Recite mantras for anxiety: These are affirmations that can be stated and repeated during meditations, or anytime you need to stop negative, catastrophic, or fear-based thinking.
14. Invest in yourself: This may be done through self-love and financial self-care. Turn down the volume of your Inner Saboteur. Become your own good parent, positive coach, and compassionate advocate.
15. Create a plan: Don’t set your own ceilings with self-limiting beliefs. Create plans for both your financial and career future goals. Even if finances are tight, making a plan to get out of debt and start saving makes you feel empowered and gives you hope.
16. Visualize a positive financial outcome: Utilize the power of self-fulfilling prophecy. Just like in sports psychology, envision yourself making your financial goals in order to increase the likelihood that you will.
17. Seek financial assistance: Seek government assistance such as public aid, social security disability, student financial aid, or local food bank services.
18. Practice gratitude: Gratitude is a practice that can shift negative thinking to positive by training your brain to look at the good parts of any situation. Gratitude and anxiety can not be experienced simultaneously.
19. Negotiate: Advocate for yourself–personally, professionally, and financially. Find your voice and ask for what you need and deserve. Use negotiation in everything from small purchases to requesting pay increases and promotions.
20. Get physical exercise: Exercise to physically release tension and anxiety; improve serotonin and dopamine levels; and reduce your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. When we feel stronger physically, we feel stronger mentally.
21. Set financial boundaries in your relationships: Seek help for financial abuse. Say no as needed. Use assertive communication to set financial limits with your friends, partner, kids, and anyone with whom you have a financial relationship.

These suggestions are broad and wide and do not deal with the real struggle that some are facing right now. However, some of these tips are good and starting with a simple budget can help. 

Communities are trying to pull together with food banks, and hampers and soup kitchens. We all need to get involved to support those who do not have enough. 

So this year consider giving the gift of giving your time. Offer a service or an experience. 

I love experiences as gifts. It is something we cherish always.