Wherever you are in your financial journey, money likely has caused stress at some point. A majority of U.S. consumers – 58% – say their finances control their lives, and 42% say saving for long-term goals keeps them up at night.
A crucial component of money management is prioritizing your financial health and wellness. That’s why we’ve teamed up with mental health company Calm – to help relieve your mental stress with meditations and tools. Calm your emotions about money using these four tips.
1. Feel the feelings and release self-judgement
It can be tempting to suppress your stress or distract yourself from your emotions, especially when it comes to challenging topics like money. But addressing your feelings head-on will help you manage them in the longer-term (and keep them from worsening). Allowing yourself to feel the difficult feelings can make it easier to accept and release them.
If you find yourself hung up on feelings of shame, guilt or self-judgement, dig into them. Address those thoughts with compassion for yourself. For instance, you might counter the thought, “I can’t believe I haven’t paid off my debt yet,” with “I’m taking steps to pay down my debt and making progress every day.” Write these thoughts and counter-thoughts down to help process them, if you’re having difficulty.
Use this meditation from Calm to help you work through feelings of shame, guilt and self-judgement:
Take some time to identify the areas of your financial life that bring the most stress (for instance, your debt or your budget), and focus your energy on those items. Over time, you’ll get better and better at addressing your stress and the tasks and topics that trigger it.
2. Uncover your money story
Your personal money story shapes your current beliefs about money. When you dive into your memories and experiences with money, you can use that deeper understanding to positively impact how you manage your money today, tailoring strategies to your own behaviors and beliefs and making changes in key areas you identify.
While your money story has a direct impact on your relationship with money, other factors are at play, too. Take a moment to consider what external stressors are affecting you. For instance:
Are there economic ones, like a recent layoff or slow job market?
Are you faced with unlearning financial habits you’ve inherited from previous generations?
Have you faced challenges securing affordable housing?
Identifying the factors contributing to your current financial experience can help you better understand the many potential stressors at play. You might surprise yourself with the number of challenges you’re quietly taking on, so take a moment to give yourself credit for everything you’re accomplishing.
3. Embrace health and mindfulness
Stress can quickly lead to unhealthy habits, so make some time to work on your sleep, diet and exercise routines. Taking small steps to improve these parts of your overall wellness can go a long way.
If you are experiencing a moment of acute stress, take a deep breath and focus on grounding yourself. A popular exercise consists of naming:
5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste
If any of these steps are challenging for you, simply attempt as many as you would like. Finish the exercise with a deep belly breath and an audible sigh before addressing the stressful situation.
Enjoy a free three-month trial of Calm Premium from Ally.
4. Move forward confidently
While it’s unlikely you can eliminate all stress from your life, empowering yourself with new tools and information can help you deal with new challenges. One strategy you can employ is turning your budget into a values-based spending plan.
Sit down in a quiet place and identify three values that are most important to you. Then, next time you’re setting or reviewing your financial goals, use those values to help guide you. When you align your spending and saving with your values — such as health and family — you may find more joy (and through that, less stress) in the way you manage your money.
Tip: Using automated tools like buckets and boosters in our Ally Bank Savings Account can help reduce some of the hands-on work of money management.
Stress as a tool
Stress isn’t always a bad thing, and it can help you make good decisions when used as an indicator that something is wrong. Over time, you can change your relationship with the feeling and treat it like a supportive sidekick instead of a nemesis. By viewing stress as a tool and an invitation to check in with yourself, you can continue to improve your financial wellbeing.
