A bad financial situation can be very stressful. It affects all aspects of your life including relationships and your job and doesn’t tend to fill your life with too much happiness.
Anxiety and depression are serious outcomes from a poor financial situation. This situation can affect your sleep, your health, your weight, your family life.
For those of you in a financial situation similar to this, how many of you are scared to check your bank account or petrified to open letters in the mail for fear they will be an overdue bill? Or worse, a final demand on a debt or loan?
There can be a feeling of haplessness, feelings of despair thinking that you will never get out of this situation. Some of the fears you have when in a poor financial situation include:
You are scared to open mail or take phone calls
If you are falling behind in your repayments or bills it can be terrifying to open mail or receiving a phone call. Constantly receiving overdue bills or final demands for a bill before it goes to legal or collections, it can become overwhelming and leave you feeling like there is no escape from this financial overwhelm.
The same fear can also be seen with phone calls. You don’t know if the next phone call (from an unknown number) is going to be another bill collector demanding repayment. Getting several overdue bill collection calls a day adds to the overwhelm. In most Western countries the bill collection industry has been overhauled significantly particularly with the harassment levels however there is still an unease when receiving one of these calls which can trigger anxiety.
Even phone calls from friends and family can get screened when you feel you are under constant pressure from bill collectors.
This pressure can lead to you taking this out on family members or work colleagues or can cause you to withdraw even more from your day to day life.
You are scared to look at your current bank account balance or recent transactions
For those struggling financially there is also a fear of logging into their online banking accounts to see their current balance or to go through their recent statements or transactions to see exactly what is happening with their account.
Or you may not suffer from a fear of opening letters however you have a fear of reading through posted bank transaction statements. This could also be said for loan statements or bills.
This fear can cause you to avoid your financial reality, keeping your head in the sand and not taking responsibility for where you are at.
You are scared to use your ATM card in case it is declined or you have a zero or negative bank balance
For those who are struggling financially, how scared are you to go to the ATM and attempt to withdraw some cash? Or has anyone gone to the shops to get a small list of groceries only to find that as you go to pay for these your card is declined?
This fear affects many of the financially vulnerable and can cause embarrassment, sadness or serious anxiety for many.
You are scared to accept invitations to catch up with friends or meeting with potential romantic interests
Social withdrawal is a big problem with people who are struggling financially. The last thing you want is to hear about friends who are purchasing houses or investments or doing very well financially in their jobs.
This issue can also be seen with people who are single and won’t pursue romantic relationships due to fear of their poor financial situation or anxiety around this.
A less than desirable financial situation can put a real dampener on your social life which can further exacerbate any feelings of anxiety or depression. This can also lead to an increase in unhealthy behaviors such as increased drinking, overeating or even drug use.
You are scared to make future plans as you don’t believe you can overcome this situation
The overall feeling of financial overwhelm can lead many to think future planning is rather futile and that they are doomed to live in financial damnation. Your levels of anxiety and depression may be so high that you think a small increase in your income isn’t going to help much or putting together a budget and debt repayment program is only papering over serious cracks in your financial position and that this won’t improve your overall financial situation.
This belief could see you not pursuing pay rises or job promotions or even any further education to help improve your prospects. This could also lead you to not set future financial goals as you feel future planning for your finances is rather futile.
This is a real concern if you believe your financial future is never going to improve.
All the above fears and scary situations are real and do affect the mental health and anxiety levels of someone in this situation. The important thing to note is that help is available and a poor financial situation CAN BE RECTIFIED.
If you are in this situation and you feel your financial situation (or your mental state) is spiraling then it’s time to take action. It’s time to take back your financial power and to start allowing yourself to live your life, not a life in which you are scared about anything linked to your finances.
First if you are struggling then speak to someone. This could be a friend, a financial counselor or a mental health professional. Sometimes finding someone to chat to can mean everything and is a great first step on your road to financial prosperity.
If you don’t want to (or feel the need) to chat to someone then take the step to start a complete overview of all your finances. Set up a budget and a plan and start moving forward to reclaiming your financial health.
For those who want help with improving their financial situation, a detailed step by step plan to overhaul and improve your financial situation can be found here.