Feeling Anxious or Worried About Finances this Holiday Season?
Many people experience increased anxiety during the holidays due to financial concern and feelings of scarcity.
How does our mindset affect our relationship with money?
For many people, financial circumstances are fixed. For example, you could be stuck at a job, unable to work, retired, on a fixed income, receiving expensive but necessary life-saving treatment, or caring for dependents. However, even given difficult financial circumstances, it is possible to shape your view of that financial situation and money in general. Mindset determines how someone will respond to objective financial realties in life.
A hallmark of a scarcity mindset is excessive worry, obsession and fear about material resources. It should be noted that there are very legitimate reasons to have anxiety regarding financial transitions and challenges, in which case you should consult a financial planner, social worker, or other social service resource. A great place to start is: https://www.211unitedway.org/.
Keys to an abundance mindset include gratefulness and a giving-attitude. What you focus on grows: the more you focus on what is going well in your life the more you will create it.
How can we address feelings of envy as they relate to money?
Envy comes from a scarcity mindset. Envy generally comes from a feeling of insecurity or lacking something meaningful and satisfying in your life. Oprah Winfrey explains that when you start to feel jaded or envious, you should intervene with intentional gratitude:
“It’s when you least feel thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you: perspective. Gratitude can transform any situation. It alters your vibration, moving you from negative energy to positive. It’s the quickest, easiest, most powerful way to effect change in your life – this I know for sure.”
What are some practical tips for having a more positive healthy mindset about our finances?
Start a gratitude practice.
Begin by making an exhaustive list of everything you are grateful for in your life. Food, shelter, transportation, friends, family are often overlooked in a scarcity mindset. Even minor things like a cool breeze, feeling of sunshine, and pleasing music can create a powerful focus for this initial list.
Continue your gratitude practice by keeping a gratitude journal. After you wake up and before you go to bed, list 3 things you are grateful for in your life. Keep track by date. Review weekly.
Tell people you care about that you appreciate them.
Help someone in need you might otherwise not, like a homeless person you pass on the street or a struggling co-worker.
Donate to a charity you care about. Giving to others in meaningful ways opens ourselves to receiving. It also instantly shifts us from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset.
Be mindful about spending habits
When buying gifts, truly evaluate your motivations for purchasing. Are you doing it out of expectation, associating dollar cost with importance? Most often, people are seeking personal connection, thoughtfulness, or meaning in gifts. You often hear “oh what a thoughtful gift!”, in a positive, warm and affirming way, while “hh what an expensive gift!” usually signals awkwardness or embarrassment as it creates an imbalance of power. The person that gives the large expensive gift now has an implicit obligation for some kind of equal or opposite return. When the other person does not have a gift of equal monetary value, the other person experiences small amounts of shame. While we are a material society, thought and meaning hold higher currency in friendships and affective relationships than monetary obligation.
Create a monthly budget. First simply track everything you spend and earn in a month divided into categories like utilities, rent, food, car, medicine, insurance and leisure.
Be sure to set aside some money for leisure or “personal expenses”. This will discourage you from randomly going on shopping sprees and ending up with a scarcity mindset.
Set aside money for meaningful experiences and material goods, such as travel to new destinations or presents for friends and family. These expenses will likely have significant positive impact on your wellbeing and relationships.
Connect with family and friends
When we begin to cultivate gratitude and therefor an abundance mindset in our lives, we open ourselves to more readily receive help from family and friends. Often, a scarcity mindset will prevent us from reaching out to others and sharing our vulnerabilities.
When we are more aware of what we already have as opposed to what we are lacking, we reduce fear and orient ourselves to what matters.
If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, there is help available.
For immediate access to routine or crisis services if you live in Georgia, please call the Georgia Crisis and Access Line (GCAL) at 1-800-715-4225. GCAL is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year to help you or someone you care for in a crisis.
If you are located elsewhere in the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a United States-based provides 24/7 service via a toll-free hotline with the number 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). It is available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
If you have significant anxiety or feelings of sadness and depression around money, finances, the future, or just can’t figure out what matters to you, it can be helpful to have professional guidance through difficult life changes. If you have been trying to resolve long standing issues for a while and you just can shake the feeling of lack or scarcity, White Pine Therapy offers evidenced based approaches to reliably navigate challenges.
White Pine Therapy is committed to providing the best mental health counseling through telehealth in Georgia. With a decade of experience, Mark Flanagan, LCSW is passionate about helping others feel better and more effective. No matter what you are going through, know that you are not alone. Call or email today to setup your free 30-minute consultation.
