Finances can be very closely related to our personal feelings of success and safety. When finances are stretched thin, we tend to feel like we lack a sense of comfort in every aspect of our lives. This activates our human instinct of locking into survival mode, a place that is very difficult to climb out of. 

Combating that survival mode can feel like we are fighting against ourselves but reorienting that thought process is a beneficial part of finding peace during times of financial insecurity. We can think of it as weathering a storm. Identifying our stressors, looking toward our communities for comfort and distressing in ways that make us feel productive are all ways that we can find grounding during tumultuous times.

Put A Name to the Feeling

Feelings of stress and worry can blend together until it’s hard to get to the root of the way we feel. Taking a moment to reflect and identifying which aspect of our worry is bothering us most can be a beneficial exercise for relieving ourselves of that worry.

Amanda Clayman, a mental health clinician with a specialization in financial issues, explains that these feelings are normal communication signals from our brains. She explains that “anxiety is really meant to bring our attention to something, because humans are wired to survive”. While our brains can’t be necessarily specific about what they Do want to call attention to, we can use process of elimination and self reflection to identify what we are worried about the most. 

We can’t always control the situation, but we can control how we respond. Once we identify the aspect that seems out of our control, we can begin to form solutions to manage those challenges, and those solutions can make us feel right back in control again!

When we work on our mental wellness and utilize safe and effective coping skills for managing our financial struggles, we are ensuring that, when we do find equilibrium again, we are making decisions that come from a place of relief and level headedness. In this way, we pay it forward to our future selves that those healthy cycles will be able to continue as finances ebb and flow!

Strength in Numbers

None of us are alone in our feelings of financial stress and insecurity. The last few years have been a whirlwind for the economical climate of our world and being mindful of that can come with a host of positive mindsets that can move us toward the direction of personal peace about our own situations. 

Our working environments are host to a plethora of different departments and individuals with strengths in a myriad of different skills. None of them went untouched as we saw our financial outlooks change during the pandemic and beyond. That camaraderie and communal understanding means that we are all coming from a similar understanding. 

The only certain thing about this uncertainty is that we are all growing from and out of it.  Talking to someone who understands the basis of where you are coming from means being able to skip past a lot of the preliminary explanations of our feelings and get right into the heart of the matter. When we feel that connection of understanding with each other, it is easier to share our true feelings and find clarity in the clutter of our racing thoughts.

What You Can Do When You Can Do It

It can be difficult to give ourselves a break sometimes. Those of us who feel we should constantly be “doing” something can get bogged down in the stagnicity of financial insecurity because it causes us to be more selective about the activities we choose to engage in. There are lots of benefits, however, to this deceleration. 

Old hobbies sometimes get pushed to the wayside while we focus on more pressing matters, but in times of financial challenges, looking to things that used to comfort us can offer a double dose of relief. On the one hand, we are using coping strategies to get us through a tough time and, on the other, the nostalgia of these actions can bring a sense of joy in remembering a simpler time in our lives. 

Nesting is a completely valid way of coping as well. Making sure our favorite area of our living spaces has plenty of creature comforts and small distractions aids us in the mentality of weathering the storm. When our minds are full of worry, there is no reason to force ourselves into productivity. Productivity comes when we work on our mental health and rise to a point of wellness that allows us to move forward in a sustainable way. 

We Are Not Our Struggles

When there is nothing we feel we can actively “do” about our current situations, we can slip into feelings of sadness and powerlessness. Reframing into the positive is much more rewarding. Instead, we can tell ourselves that we are doing the best with what we have and encourage ourselves to a place of positive self assurance! By putting a name to our stressors, looking for comfort in those with a common experience and distressing in ways that make us feel well, we can motivate ourselves for the better through times of financial uncertainty!