Managing Stress in a Hard Economy

Managing stress in a hard economy is important to do so you can get through a financially difficult time. Succumbing to the stress of losing your job or dealing with monetary hardship will only keep you from finding new work or propel you into further debt. Take action now to pick yourself up and start pulling your life back together.

It's time to take back control of your life when it's gone awry. This will help you combat stress and not let it get the best of you. No matter what you are dealing with in this hard economy, there are stress management techniques you can employ.

If you've recently lost your job, you may feel angry and scared. You may wonder how long it will take you to find another job and if you will be able to make ends meet while you are unemployed. The following are some stress management techniques for dealing with job loss.

• Accept the job loss

Many people become stressed because they don't want to accept that they lost their job. They think about what went wrong or hold on to anger about why the company chose to let them go. While doing this may help you process what happened, holding on to the feelings you have about it will only get in the way of moving on. Look back on the situations that led to the termination of your employment, feel the rejection, sadness and anger, and then let it go by telling yourself that there is nothing you can do about it now. Staying angry and sad about it won't make you feel better, but doing things to make you feel like you aren't letting your job loss ruin your life will.

• Take back control

When you lose your job, you may feel like life is no longer in your control. These feelings intensify if you don't have savings to get you through your financial obligations during your unemployment. You may start to feel like life is spiraling out of control. While it may be overwhelming, it is manageable. You just need to step up and take control of your life again. You lost your job, now what are you going to do?

If your plan consists of finding a new job, write down what you need to do to start the search. Are you going to look through classifieds? Are you visiting companies in your area to hand out your resume? Or are you scouring the Internet for positions that you can apply to online? Stick to your plan until you find a new job.

You may have financial stress because you lost your job or because you've been irresponsible with your finances. Either way, you are feeling debt stress. This can be one of the most debilitating stressors in your life. Fortunately, dealing with this stressor isn't as difficult as you might believe it is.

• Face the debt

Many people who have debt will live in denial of it. They may not look at credit card statements, ignore phone calls from creditors, or continue to buy things that put them into further debt. The only way to start freeing yourself from debt-stress is to face it. Look at your credit card statements, talk to the creditors, and cut up your credit cards. Find out what you are really dealing with so you can deal with it.

• Work on it

Once you know how much debt you are in, you need to start making a plan to start paying on it. Initially, this will be stressful because it will look like you will never be able to lower your debt. You may even want to go back into denial because you figure there's nothing to be done about it. Don't turn back now though, keep moving forward. Call the credit card companies, lenders and your utility companies. Tell them your situation and ask if they will be able to work with you. In a hard economy, these businesses understand and most of them will try to accommodate debtors.

• Be good to yourself

Don't be too hard on yourself. Yes, you may have made some bad decisions or have had to deal with situations beyond your control. However, it doesn't mean that you should give yourself grief over it. Be proud of yourself for finally doing something about it. Being good to yourself by not begrudging yourself, will lower your stress levels to help you deal with other challenges in life.

The stress management techniques for job loss and debt are things you can do over time to help you feel better about yourself by changing your current stressful situation. However, in the midst of working on that, you may need some quick interventions to help you get yourself together enough to start working on your problems. When you are feeling overwhelmed, try some of these quick stress-lowering tricks:

• Breathe

When you're stressed, you're apt to take shorter breathes. Pay attention to your breathing and count breathes. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.

• Exercise

Get your mind off things and release the good feeling hormones, endorphins. They will make you feel empowered.

• Have fun

It may be hard to have fun when you feel so lousy about your life, but doing something that you enjoy will help you release tension.

Managing stress in hard economy can feel insurmountable. You may want to give up on life. However, it may be helpful to know that you are not the only one dealing with this. In a hard economy, people are faced with many stressors, and the difference between the ones who successful get through it and the ones who don't, is how they handle it. Embrace your difficulties, learn from them, and then take steps to change your situation. Before too long, you will look back, think, "Phew, I'm glad that's over!" and smile at how well did.

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