Seven ways to cope with financial stress and anxiety

As the pandemic continues to do its worst across the world, more and more people are finding themselves in what we’d call the financial dogs.

Businesses are going down, rent has become a challenge and some can barely generate enough income for essentials.

Of course, the main concern right now is steering clear of the virus. This has forced other challenges like mental health and wellbeing to take a backseat and the consequences of not paying attention to such issues are detrimental.

However, one of the main causes of stress right now is financial difficulty. It’s time we also find healthy ways to cope with the financial uncertainty we face every day. 

With these simple tips hopefully, you can learn one or two things on how to navigate the stress and anxiety money or the lack thereof, is bringing by the day. 

1. Prioritize your mental health

Stress is a very toxic cycle that can damage your mind and body. It can cause issues like high blood pressure, heart problems along with other additional problems that no one should have to experience. Stress will also make it harder for you to concentrate at work affecting your overall performance. It’s important to make sure you’re working hard but you can’t reap all the benefits if you’re not okay. You can actually find many examples of celebrities who had it all but gave up on life.

2. Talk to someone

You can start by being honest with your family about the pressure you’re under. You can also decide to get in touch with a therapist or even your pastor so that you’re not suffering in silence. Expressing yourself and opening up to someone will set you free from the burden of pretending like everything is okay. I’m sure your family will also understand and be more considerate. 

3. Deal with the urgencies first

Create a list of top priorities you need to take care of then go down to the additional things you need. As you create a budget, you’ll cancel out the things that aren’t important for now which gives you a new perspective on how you can sustain your finances. This will also help you declutter your mind from all these thoughts that make things worse than they actually are.

4. Find ways to generate extra income

People are slowly learning that there are many ways you can add a few extra coins in your wallet. All you need to do is get creative and do enough research to find out where you can succeed. Online work is booming right now so you can try starting a YouTube channel with good content that people are drawn to or even start and online business on Instagram. Partner with someone to combine amazing ideas and start expanding your sources of income.

5. Stay away from toxic news

It’s very hard to come across encouraging news either from the media or from the people around you. It’s already obvious that things aren’t looking great but underneath all the chaos is some good news. Differentiate toxic vs helpful information by checking whether it offers solutions after pointing out the problem. Being bombarded with negative news will only leave you with piles of more discouraging information which isn’t good if you’re trying to reduce triggers.

6. Celebrate any progress

Start practicing gratitude by being your first cheerleader. It’s not always automatic that you’ll make any process so it helps to appreciate the small steps you’ve made especially when you know you’ve managed to progress from where you were before. You don’t need to celebrate by spending though. You can just reward yourself with positive self-talk which is a huge part of dealing with anxiety.

7. Plan for the future

Accept that things are tough and do all you can to absorb the lessons you’ve learnt through the crisis. If you block out this part, you can actually end up in the same position years or even months from now. Don’t let the mistakes you didn’t bother to learn from haunt you in the future.