After the manager made an insensitive comment about this worker’s looks, she quickly learned about the reality of life with a low salary
The story inspired others to share their own experiences
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To learn more about how troubles with finances affect our wellbeing, we reached out to Vicky Reynal, a financial therapist and psychotherapist based in the UK. According to her, people experience money stress when they feel pressure "either from facing financial demands that we cannot meet and/or feeling we have little control over our finances."
She told Bored Panda that such stress can cause mental health problems or exacerbate existing ones. Also, it could even turn into anxiety or even depression. "It’s important to note that anyone — regardless of their wealth — might suffer from poor financial wellbeing and worry excessively about their financial situation, or not feel in control of it," Reynal said.
"However, people who have experienced financial losses, struggle with problem debt, or live in poverty are at greater risk to experience serious emotional distress from managing this type of stress."
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"As stated by the WHO, studies over 20 years have proven over and over the link between poverty and mental health issues. Common mental disorders are almost twice as frequent among the poor as among the rich (depression is almost twice as likely amongst the low-income groups of the population)," Reynal explained.
The financial therapist mentioned that money stress can have a damaging effect on both mental and physical health. "It is common knowledge that stress can cause us to feel tired, disrupt our sleep pattern, may cause headaches, stomach aches — the list goes on. Also, since our body produces hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline when we are stressed (which is an evolutionary response to threat), this overproduction may have detrimental long-term health effects."
Reynal added that our bodies might show signs of stress about money before our mind acknowledges it consciously. "It is actually the physical signs of stress that may alert us to an emotional struggle: loss of appetite, insomnia, muscle tension, constipation, headaches can be clues that we might need to attend to our thoughts and feelings."
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The rising cost of living creates worries that drag consumer confidence. Seeing prices getting higher at every turn might make people believe their finances will only get worse. However, there are some steps we can take if we want to control money stress.
Reynal came up with an acronym to remember six things we can do to help ourselves manage the thoughts and emotions we get from financial stress — CALMER.
Change what is within your control. Many of us have the opportunity to change our financial reality by adjusting things we have power over. The financial therapist mentioned some practical things like "budgeting your expenses, or creating an emergency fund as a safety net may go a long way in helping you feel that you have more control over the uncertainties ahead."
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"There are actions you could think about in terms of creating extra sources of income, cutting some unnecessary expenses, re-evaluating your service providers to see if you can get better deals. Even better practices around food shopping or cooking instead of takeaway can have a positive impact on the bank balance. Check also to see if you qualify for any financial support schemes."
To manage money stress, you should also try to Accept the things that aren’t in your control. "It is not easy, but to address a lot of the over-thinking and unproductive worrying that can take over our thoughts, we have to accept that certain things are not under our control. The challenge is then to let those things go and focus our attention on what we can do to help our financial situation and our mental wellbeing."
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Reynal also urges you to remember to Look after yourself and don't let your mental and physical health deteriorate:
- Tune into your body and spot the signs of stress
- If you have ideas of activities that make you feel happy, try to engage more in these
- Avoid unhealthy habits
- Practice things like yoga, meditation, mindfulness — you won’t know if these work for you until you have tried them
- Exercise — daily exercise has been proven to have physical and mental health benefits
- Don’t isolate yourself — keep connections with others alive
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The next thing in the acronym is Money time. "When money worries become hard to manage, I have seen people adopt one of two coping mechanisms: avoiding the subject altogether or over-thinking. Neither are helpful," Reynal explained.
If you find yourself on either end of this spectrum, she advised you to "set out a specific time when you are going to attend to your finances. It will free up some space in the mind of the anxious balance-checker and it will encourage the avoiders to face the reality of their situation so they can be in a better place to address it."
Suffering in silence can be harmful, so you should Express your worries out loud. "Talking about your concerns can go a long way. Look for a trusted other who you have found supportive in the past," Reynal said. "You might find your worries are shared by others and that you get a sense of relief and release by talking about them."
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The last thing to remember from this list — Reality check. "Sometimes stress can be exacerbated when we create unrealistic (or low probability) scenarios in our minds that cause us further worry. It’s called catastrophizing, and it is unhelpful. It’s worth asking yourself what is the likelihood of the scenario in your mind you are so scared about?"
After all, every single one of us wants to feel safe in our everyday lives — it's a basic human need. "Our safety being at risk can be traumatizing," Reynal added. "A life that feels more like survival than existence can bring people to a dark place in their minds, to places of stuck-ness and hopelessness." So if you ever notice that the world is becoming a bit much for you, just remember Reynal's acronym CALMER and try to flip your situation around.
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