Stress Reduction for Financially Trying Times

There are steps that we can take to help us stay focused and effective during this seemingly wild financial ride.

It’s critically important to recognize the impact that today’s financial conditions are having on us, and to manage our individual reactions. If we allow stress to get the best of us, it can and will create unnecessary pressure in other important areas of our lives. Left unchecked, stress can severely impair one’s ability to concentrate, it can affect the quality of our interactions with others, and it can affect one’s ability to perform well on the job. Stress can paralyze us into inaction.

More than anything, though, when we are too focused on an event that is causing stress, we can lose sight of the things that are still positive in our lives—our family, our friends and co-workers, our community, even our sense of self worth.

What you can do:
The key is to manage your stress reaction, instead of letting it manage you. Make sure that it’s you steering your ship through those troubled waters, not the other way around.

Shakespeare himself offered the following wisdom (through the voice of none other than Hamlet) to help underscore the importance of keeping one’s perspective: “...for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” (More on this later.)

Here are some practical steps you can take immediately to decrease your
stress level.

1. Recognize that you are not alone. Everyone is feeling the pressure. Be a support to others around you; use others for support. Acknowledge with others what is happening around you. Even casual conversations can help make tough issues seem less intense.
2. Manage incoming information (news, other media) so that it does not bombard you with overwhelming headlines. Seek high quality news sources that provide a balanced perspective, and don’t forget to watch something for fun: sports, a good comedy, etc.
3. Pay attention to and value your non-financial assets. What really matters in the long run? Family, friends, co-workers, a place to live, food on the table, job, health, Fido?
4. Make an accurate accounting of your financial assets and liabilities, as they stand today. This is not the first economic downturn the world has faced. Facing the facts today allows you to begin the planning process for a better financial future. Seek expert advice as necessary.
5. Make sure to keep your day-to-day life on track by engaging in normal activities-exercising, eating right, avoiding alcohol and caffeine, getting enough sleep, getting together with friends, doing your hobbies (all that stuff Mom used to tell us
   to do).
6. Make sure to keep your “self-talk”-the conversation you have with yourself-as accurate as possible. Saying to yourself, “This is difficult, but temporary,” instead of “This is a catastrophe I will never recover from!” will leave you a lot less unsettled. (We think that’s what Shakespeare meant in his quote!)
7. Reach out for practical help.
8. Be sure to take care of yourself during these trying times, and to encourage others
   to do the same.
   

Source: www.wseap.com

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