Financial Self-Care: Transforming Stress into Money Gratitude

As the holiday season quickly approaches, many of us can feel an overwhelming sense of financial stress. While we want to feel gratitude and joy in the giving season, it’s just as likely you’re feeling worry and fear around your finances as the end of year closes in. From paying for gifts to the costs of travel to be with loved ones, not to mention the stress of trying to get all the holiday plans together in the first place, it’s no wonder we can feel so overwhelmed, overworked, and emotionally drained.

In fact, most Americans feel a sense of stress around their finances. Considering we’re also living through the stress of a pandemic, there’s never been a more important time to talk about how to manage financial stress in day-to-day life. 

How Financial Stress Affects You

According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association, 2 out of 3 adults have experienced increased stress over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly half report their behavior being negatively affected, from increased physical tension to outbursts of anger and unexpected mood swings. 17% of people reported increased yelling and even screaming at a loved one. None of us want to feel stressed or take it out on the people we care about, but we can all relate. When stress of any kind builds and goes unchecked, it starts to erode our relationships and our mental health over time.

Stress is an epidemic. And when stress sets in and becomes a regular occurrence, it becomes chronic. Chronic stress shows up in a plethora of ways in our lives - from physical symptoms and tension to emotional symptoms and anxiety. It affects our day-to-day living and robs us of our ability to be fully present in the joyous moments with our loved ones during the holidays and during everyday life. 

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Stress also affects our ability to make logical and reasonable decisions with our money. This stress can come from many different sources, but a big contributor is comparing ourselves to others. When we’re busy comparing ourselves or our financial situation to the Jones’s or our Instagram feed, we feel like we’re missing out or not meeting societal expectations. Even though in most cases, we compare our worst selves to the best image our friends and Instagram feeds show to the world. We’re perpetuating financial stress. Comparison truly is the thief of joy. 

Stress in any form, whether it’s over money or stress from previous trauma, can build up over time and affect you mentally, physically, and emotionally. So what’s the solution?

Mindfulness

Before you can fix any problem or change a behavior, you first have to understand it. So, the first step to dealing with stress is to be mindful of it. When we’re aware of our stress, we can begin to understand our mindset and treat ourselves and our situations with more loving kindness. When you’re kind to yourself and give yourself grace, you actually end up much less stressed and in a much better headspace to make good decisions.

Being mindful of your financial stress doesn’t have to be complicated or require any money. It can be as simple as noticing you’re getting tense about a money situation and choosing to take a few deep breaths. Deep breathing can calm your nervous system and your body’s stress response, and can really help pull you out of a negative mindset. 

You can start dealing with stress in a healthier way, right where you are, for free with a daily dose of mindfulness. And the best part is, the more you practice mindfulness, the better you handle stress and the more mentally prepared you’ll be to handle potentially stressful situations in the future.

Financial Self-Care

In addition to mindfulness, you can start building a financial self-care practice. When you think of self-care, you probably think of a deep tissue massage, pedicure, or comfort food. The idea behind self-care is purposefully setting aside time for yourself to do things that improve how you feel in day-to-day life. Why not apply that same principle to your finances too?

Start with simple things if you feel like you're drowning in financial stress. Even simple practices that reduce stress and get you out of a negative mindset can make a big difference. We can’t make good judgments from a place of stress, because when we’re stressed, our bodies are ready for a fight or flight response, not logic or reasoning. We first have to step out of this stressful mindset, and setting aside time for self-care is a great place to start.

Here are some simple financial self-care practices you can start now without spending money:

• Take a walk
• Meditate
• Practice gratitude (write out a list of things you’re thankful for)
• Yoga or gentle stretching
• Journal about your thoughts and feelings

If you panic at the thought of starting a budget, start with some simple practices above. When you’re ready to move forward with your financial self-care practice, here are some great habits to build:

• Make a value-based budget
• Have a monthly money date with yourself or significant other
• Make time for goal setting and financial planning

Financial self-care isn’t limited to just finances, either. Creating habits that help you cope with stress in any form will improve your mindset over time and ultimately how you feel about your finances. As you build your self-care practices, you’ll find the habits that work best for you. Your next step may be creating a habit of making your lunch the night before so you can eat healthier or save money on your take-out budget. Your practices should fit your lifestyle and make your life easier. Experiment with your self-care practice and find what works best for you.

Attitude of Money Gratitude

As we enter the holiday season, remember to be mindful of stress. It can make all the difference. As you practice mindfulness and financial self-care, you may find your perspective on money starting to change. That perspective will begin to change from one of stress to one of gratitude. When we slow down and deal with financial stress in a healthier way, we realize behind our problems are so many things to be thankful for. And as we begin to focus on the things we do have, our fears of not having enough or not meeting expectations start to fade away. As your perspective changes, your ability to make good financial decisions and deal with financial stress improves. And as you make better financial decisions, your whole financial life begins to improve. It improves with one small habit and one moment of mindfulness at a time. 

If you are affected by financial stress and would like to address it, please book a free consult to see how we can best work together.  

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