The Stress of Money Management

Do you avoid managing your money because you feel the stress of money management?

Are you afraid of what you might find if you start to manage your money?

Are you pretending to not worry about money when really you aren't sleeping well or are having health issues?
If you don't manage your money chances are you will feel the stress of money management. Especially if you have debt.

What if I told you that you could relieve that stress very easily and quite quickly? All it takes is a bit of planning and sticking to the plan?

Once you put a money management plan into place that works for you, you will start to feel the stress relief quickly!

Define Stress in the "Stress of Money Management"

Let's first look at what stress is. According to www.ehealthmd.com Stress is defined as "the emotional and physical strain caused by our response to pressure from the outside world. Common stress reactions include tension, irritability, inability to concentrate, and a variety of physical symptoms that include headache and a fast heartbeat."

What is interesting about stress is that it effects everyone differently. So what might stress you out, may not stress out your partner or family members. You may not even realize how stressed you are, especially about money, as you may hide it from yourself and others.

So take some time to look at what your body is saying to you. Look for your signs of stress or stress indicators. When your start to think about or someone starts to talk about money or mentions your debt:

• Do your palms sweat or does your heart rate speed up?
• Do you get angry, sad, worried or tense?
• Do you get a headache, backache, fatigue or dizziness?
• Do you get a nervous stomach?
• Do you tend to oversleep, eat too much or too little or drink more alcohol?
• So you start to forget things? Or Feel helpless?

These can all be signs of stress. Write them down. See them as early signs or indicators that you are becoming stressed. When you can acknowledge that you are becoming stressed, you can do something about it to stop it from overwhelming you.

As humans have evolved, we learned to survive. Physiologically, when we face stress, our bodies prepare to "fight or flight". Stress causes your body to release stress hormones which causes; our heart to speed up, the blood flow to our brain and muscles increases by up to 400%, our body to divert energy from our digestive system to where it is needed, and we breathe faster to get oxygen to our muscles.

This works and can help you survive if you are in a situation where we need strength to survive - like running from a fire. However in a situation like worrying about your money, your body still perceives that you are in a "fight or flight" situation, and there is no where for that excess energy or extra stress hormones to go. This causes fatigue, digestive issues, pain, increase in blood pressure, which can lead to stroke, and heart problems. Really there is no need for this!

Let's Take the Stress out of the "Stress of Money Management"

EhealthMD.com suggests using the TARP method:

Tune in - notice early signs of stress

Analyze - Look for the sources or causes of your stress

Respond - Deal with your causes of stress and it's effects.

Prevent - Develop good stress-reduction habits.

To learn more about this method check out their site.

As for your money management aspect of stress, you looked at the indicators or the "Tune In" aspect above, so let's now look at how you can Analyze your money stresses, respond to them and deal with them, and prevent them in the future. In other words you need a plan to deal with your money. That is what Transform Your Money is all about. Providing you with the information you need to take the stress out of money management!

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