Free Essay Sample on Finance-related Stress Relief

Stress particularly stress related to finances can be identified as feeling of stress as a result of our personal finances or because of our fears about the economy. Over 33 % of college students are reported to have financial stress (Common College Health Issues 1). Also, more than 83% of the workers in United States are reported to struggle with financial stress. A study conducted by Financial Finesse revealed that in 2013, women aged 30-44 with a monthly income of $60,000, and children to support were nine times more likely to suffer from overwhelming financial stress. 53% of these were under serious financial stress (Cynthia, Gregory, and Liz 2). Financial Finesse also reported that women are twice likely to report high financial stress as compared to men. Financial stress can be relieved by the use of our efforts and utilizing financial wellness programs.

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Personal understanding that money cannot give us everything is crucial in releasing stress. One misconception that people have bout money is that the more money you have, the less the worries about money. This is not true. In fact, the more money we have, the more worries about the money that eventually lead to financial stress. Employing a positive perspective and practicing gratitude is a good way of minimizing financial stress. Instead of restlessly regretting about the financial crisis, dwelling on past economic failure and worrying too much about the future, it would rather be healthier to take responsibilities, accept the situations and take that opportunity to learn. This would mean taking the financial obstacles and using them to help us become better in financial management and also become great solution finders.

Disengaging with behaviors that exacerbate our financial situations and stress helps to relief financial stress. More often than not when we experience financial difficulties, we tend to adopt eating habit that would keep us from forgetting our situations. We end up spending more on things such as alcohol, cigarettes and sugary foods (Keller 2). We also tend to do away with our daily routine health and social activities to concentrate on our financial problems. This escalates our financial stress situations. In fact, we end up losing the forest for the trees. During a time when we are in financial difficulties and stresses, adopting healthy behaviors such as exercise, prayer and being close to socially and spiritually supportive people is a good way of helping to relief financial stress.

Financial stress in students can be relieved by disclosing our financial situations to people we trust. Students are the last group of people that one would expect to suffer from financial stress. However, according to a national survey conducted in 2012 by Inceptia on college students, the major stressors on students are borrowing money for college, the cost of education, need to repay the loans and the need to find better jobs after the college (Common College Health Issues 1). The issue ought to be curbed because it may have detrimental effects on students welfare as well as the academic performance of the students. This can be achieved by discussing the financial concerns and plans with supportive family members and relatives. It is significant in relieving financial stress because it can lead to the identification of other financial resources. More so, it is wise to track daily financial spending and adjust by cutting on luxurious spending and some of the unnecessary spending. Communication is a crucial aspect of our lives. In such situations of financial stress, communication can serve as the best tool for minimizing stress. Discussing the issue with other students helps us to understand that we are not suffering alone. In fact, we end up realizing that there are other people who are in worse situations. Such disclosure of personal information helps us to accept our situations and deal with it rather than helplessly watching things get to extremes.

Employees can make use of financial wellness programs that are offered by the employers in United States. An assessment conducted by Financial Finesse (Cynthia, Gregory, and Liz 1) indicated that more and more employees are becoming proactive in financial wellness programs. Low-income earners were shown to have the best improvement on utilizing this services to handle their financial stresses. Education offered by these programs has helped most of the workers in US to start concentrating more on financial issues that are within their power and doing away with those that they cannot have control. In 2014, 36% of the workers reported that the stock market was the major source of their financial stress. This showed a drop from 51% in the year 2013. More so, this study indicated that many people are getting the online help with an increase of the users logins to the Online Financial Learning Center increasing to 69% (Cynthia, Gregory, and Liz 2). These financial wellness programs help the workers to cope with financial stresses by educating them how to handle their finances and difficult financial circumstances.

Drafting monthly financial spending and prioritizing the needs helps in reducing financial stress. It is essential to be conscious of all the spending that we make every month. This can be done by listing the items that we spend and their prices. It helps us to approximate the amount we require every month thus we do not overspend on things that are not important. Also, in situations where the expenses are more than the income, we can prioritize our needs and only make purchases of those items that we require most. Such discipline assists us in gaining the balance of our resources and using them to meet all our needs. It also reduces debts hence relief us off stress.

Establishing healthy relationships is a good way of coping with financial stress. Spending time with the people we love and care most about is a good way of minimizing financial stresses (Ortner 134). At such times, taking a nature walk with the people we care about distracts our mind from too much thinking about our financial situations. They also give us encouragement to keep going and dust off once our financial deals fail. Also, spending time with the people we love us with excellent opportunities to practice good eating habits. Hence, we can overcome our financial difficult situations.

When caught in situations of financial distress, evaluating our goals and establishing new ones can help us to ease stress with hopes that our new goals well succeed. Instead of focusing on our failures, we re-focus our attention in formulating new strategies that will help us to improve our situations. This can be achieved by setting goals for the day, week, month, season, and a year. By achieving simple goals for the day, we get motivated, and we gain confidence that we will get out of our financial stressful circumstances.

Improper dealing with financial stress has a lot of effects on our lives. It affects our social lives, health, and our relationship lives. When parents are financially stressed, the stresses overflows to children and they barely receive the love they should get from their parents. The children behaviors are also affected, and their lives could be ruined forever. On the health aspect, financial stress can interfere with peoples appetite and their sleeping patterns. It can cause physical reactions, psychological torture as well as mental problems. Furthermore, among the top killer diseases in America are related to stress. Such diseases include diabetes, hypertension, depression, obesity and even ulcers.

In conclusion, we can see that financial stresses affect all people; people with high incomes, and those with low incomes. There is no amount of money that can stop a person from experiencing financial stresses. The truth is that financial stress does not depend on how much money we possess or how little we have. It all depends on how we relate to what we have. Financial stress has detrimental effects on our health, social and relationship lives. The good thing is that financial stress can be relieved by our personal efforts and also taking the advantage of the financial wellness programs within our vicinity. Forming good habits of handling and dealing with money issues is the key to overcoming financial stress.

Work Cited

Common College Health Issues: Economic stress. n.d. 9 June 2015. <http://brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/common_college_health_issues/economic_stress.php>.

Cynthia Meyer, Gregory A. Ward, and Liz Davidson. "Research on Financial Trends." Financia Finesse (2014): 1-24.

Keller, Helen. Financial Stress Relief in Any Circumstance. 11 JULY 2014. 9 June 2015. <http://partners4prosperity.com/financial-stress-relief-in-any-circumstance>.

Ortner, Nick. The Tapping Solution: A Revolutionary System for Stress-Free Living. Carlsbad, Calif: Hay House, 2013. Print