Aug
05
Stress – How to handle financial stress
ByMoney or at least the love of it has been called the root of all evil. It is also the root of a lot of stress. No one stresses much about too much money, just not enough. It is stressful if you are underemployed, if you are deeply in debt and if you have had a sudden change in income due to illness, change of marital status or a death.
The first thing to do is to get a handle on your fear. To do that you have to decide what about your finances causes you stress. Begin with what about your current financial status is good. List all the benefits that you receive if nothing changes. There are one or two benefits or you would have changed already. Maybe the only benefit is that your current situation keeps you from getting in worse shape financially. There is a benefit(s) so find them and make a list.
Then make a list of all the benefits of changing the situation from where it is to where you would like it to be. Remember change requires energy, a plan and some accountability. If you change you have to put in energy for a while before you will see results. That isn’t a benefit, but it is a part of reality and I want to keep you grounded during this process.
What is your financial strength? On a scale of 1-10, how strong are you financially? Draw a picture of your financial strength. Make a bar graph. Make the base of the graph 0 and the top line 10. 10 is the best you could be and 0 is the worst. Draw it as a long tall rectangle, sort of like a skyscraper outline. Now take a pen and draw a line at the number you designate as representing your financial strength.
Lets look at other aspects of your life. How about nutrition, environment, spirituality, self esteem, exercise, stress management, health care, play, work, life purpose, or relationships? Which of these areas are you really strong in? Don’t be ambivalent. Take a carefully thought out position – where are your strengths? If you are a eight or more in a couple of areas you can look at your actions there and apply those same principles to your financial life.
Why are you strong in an area? Because you understand it? Like it? Learned it very well? Do you have a natural talent in one of your strongest areas? What you must remember is that you are not broken. You do not “need” me to fix it or anyone else for that matter. You have what it takes to gain strength in any area of your life. You need to see it as it might be, look at the next step and think about the actions you might need to take. Before you make a list of actions look at victories or successes you have had financially and at potential roadblocks. Think about what you want to happen and write an affirmation.
A generic affirmation about finances might be something like this:
I am day by day paying off my debt. I am light in spirit and body as the burden of debt plus interest is lifted off of my life. I am thrifty, resourceful and able to find information and guidance when ever a challenge occurs. I am successfully eliminating debt and excess want and poor financial decisions from my life.
Now you could write down some actions in the order they need to occur, and assign them reasonable dates and times for accomplishment. Remember you are not broken, this is not a weakness. Problems are challenges and areas of lesser strength can be made strong.
I would be honored to be your guide. Would you like to invite 4 friends to go on a journey with you. I could arrange to coach you over the phone or if you are local, in person. I have a one time special and when it is gone, it is gone forever. I will give a group of 4 people 10 hours of life coaching for $50 each. You meet as a group and we will work out the other details. Let me know ASAP if you want to take advantage of this offer. Use my contact info page on this blog to email me about your interest. My middle initial is L by-the-way. It will help you email me if you know that.
I look forward to your comments here and to your emails in the near future.
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