Anxiety can be defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. Anxiety can be good if it works as a drive that gets you up to get things done, on the other hand, unhealthy anxiety is when you are having sleepless nights that you always have to be on medication and you are always stressed out that it becomes a hustle to get anything done.
In this blog, we are going to focus on anxiety, which is money-related and also discuss how you can overcome it.
Please note that these are my personal opinions, coming from my research and study and also what I have found to work for me, if you have extreme anxiety or depression I advise you to see a therapist or get professional medical assistance.
Breaking down financial anxiety
Financial anxiety is an obsessive fear with things related with money. Financial anxiety can be triggered by a number of factors, it could be that you can’t effectively manage your finances, you are always badly prepared for emergencies or being financially illiterate.
Overcoming your anxiety
1. Plan on your financial activities
Identify which aspect of your finances gives you anxiety and plan in advance on how you can tackle that situation and handle it in a way that gives you minimum stress. Usually this could be too much debt, not enough income, or being uncertain of the future. Laying down a plan will relieve you of some stress as it gives you direction and solutions to some of your problems.
2. Set your goals
Planning ultimately leads you to setting your goals and coming up with a vision for yourself and your future, anxiety sometimes comes from the lack of vision and direction, that feeling when you don’t know what you are doing and have no idea where you are going. Goals also help align your focus and promote a sense of self-mastery which gives the sense of being in control of your life and where it’s headed.
3. Build your emergency fund
It really doesn’t matter how small you start but setting up an emergency fund will help you to be better prepared for emergencies and situations that are out of your control.
4. Find ways to be more financially literate
Being educated about money is a must in this day and age, financial literacy will help you to function efficiently because you will able to evaluate the information needed to make decisions that have financial ramifications or consequences. This would mean that you have an understanding of essential financial concepts which include Budgeting, Saving, Credit, Debt, and Insurance.
5. Always stay positive
Staying positive doesn't mean that you ignore life's less pleasant situations or the inability to be realistic. Positivity simply means approaching trying times in a more positive and productive way. It means you think more of the solution and you don’t fix your mind on the problem. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst. It is important to always try to see the good in situations and also try to learn something, if you start doing this you will be amazed by how much anxiety or depression you can get rid of by just staying positive.
As we come to the end of this article, I hope that you will start implementing some of these tips as a way of taking care of your mental health and that you will take the right steps to becoming more financially literate to avoid most of these problems.
