Is Your Mental Health Affecting Your Finances?

Many years ago, I found myself in a financial bind. I lost my apartment, my job, and faced criticism from my peers in the midst of what I was going through. This led me into a state of depression.

At some point before all of this, I became a poor steward over my finances. But overtime, I realized that poor decisions wasn't the only cause of where I ended up financially, but my mental health also played a significant role in holding me back from achieving my financial goals.

My mind was clouded, and I couldn't think clearly about creating a financial plan and sticking to it. Where I was mentally, there was just no way I had the discipline nor strength to achieve my financial goals.

Eventually, I moved to another state. I surrounded myself with positive people, got into a better environment and this helped to clear my mind and relieved me of depression. I was able to focus, set clear goals, stick to them and achieve them. Once my mental health was better, it gave me the clear mind that I needed for my financial health to be restored.

Poor Mental Health Can:

• Lead to emotional spending- cause you to spend money you really don't have and make poor financial choices.

• Challenge your focus on creating a budget and prioritizing essentials- when your mind is cluttered, it can be challenging to find where to start when it comes to getting out of debt and handling expenses.

• Limit the strength you have to go to work, therefore resulting in less income.

Overcoming and Gaining a Positive Mental Health Can:

• Cause you to come up with strategies and meet financial goals.

• Motivate you to work more and earn more income.

• Give you the strength to budget and take care of priorities.

• Give you the discipline and strength to get out of debt and overcome financial hurdles.

  
  

Take Care of Your Mental Health:

While finances may not fix everyone's mental health issues, poor mental health can still affect one's finances. Be sure to take care of your mental health so that you can have the mindset needed to create strategies, achieve goals, and overcome any financial barriers. Moving to another state for a year and being in an environment full of nature may have helped me. Things that can help you may include: reading, hiking, taking a walk, travelling or taking a vacation, meditating, working on a hobby, talking to someone, or changing your environment. These are some of the things that can help shift our mental health from poor to positive. Be sure to take care of your mental health so that you can continue making wise financial decisions.

Question? Have you ever noticed a time when your mental health directly affected your financial health? Maybe stress led to impulse spending, anxiety held you back from making bold financial moves, or even burnout drained your motivation to stay disciplined. I'd like to hear your experiences. Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Discipline is Key

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