Probably everyone will agree that debts upset and limit us. There are many unpleasant moments in life, but this stress is not like the others. Before taking out another loan, you should think not only about getting new things, but also about how it will affect your health.
If you quarreled with a friend, quit your job with a scandal or broke your leg, this is temporary stress. The body has the resources to survive, hold out and live happily ever after. As for the stress of debt, it does not think to end. Such nervous tension lasts and lasts, exhausting a person and plunging into complete hopelessness.
Kelly McGonigal, a psychologist at Stanford University, argues that debts not only spoil the overall tone and mood, but also hit health. Worries and stress are combined with a sense of hopelessness arising from the fact that a person cannot change the situation, at least right now. Studies confirm the harm to health: people who have taken out a mortgage are more likely to see a doctor.
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Nevertheless, according to FOM sociologists, in 2013 29% of Russians had an outstanding loan. This number has only increased over time. One, two or three debts, a lot of loans. Everyone risks being tempted by new technology, beautiful clothes or other things, without which it is quite possible to do.
When the joy of buying disappears, harsh everyday life comes with payments and approaching hopelessness. Maybe five simple tips will help you take a different look at finances and prioritize so that you don't have to waste your health on useless things.
David Kruger, a financial coach and former psychiatrist who worked in Houston, Texas, claims that people often use finance as a means of self-affirmation. "We attach great importance to money and make it synonymous with opportunity, the embodiment of power and proof that we are worth something in this life," says Kruger.
Think about what values money has become for you. Just ask yourself these questions:
After giving honest answers, write them down. This will help you look at money in a different way, and from the right attitude to solving problems is one step.
One of the recent studies showed that most often people borrow to feel stronger and freer. Having spent all the money from the credit card, you feel relieved if the limit increases. The same feelings you experience when taking up the next few thousand. And it doesn't matter that the amount of your debts has become simply astronomical.
It's a matter of short-term perception. You know you have to give, but NOW you have more opportunities. Remember that this is just an illusion that will be destroyed very soon. Such an understanding will help to spend the money borrowed from the bank more rationally or not to take a loan at all.
Roy Baumeistey, a social psychologist at the University of Florida, has researched the mechanisms of self-control. The results showed that the human willpower reserve is limited. In other words, by directing efforts to one thing, you do not leave resources for another.
But you can turn your attention to finance. Every day, keep track of your expenses, write down the totals of checks and plan more rationally. This will help you direct the efforts of the "muscles of self-control" towards finance.
Studies prove that very often people make expensive purchases on credit to maintain self-esteem. When dissatisfaction with oneself arises, drastic measures are required. It is not so important what the ego suffers from: the boss scolded, they once again showed on TV how to live to be worthy"
Nero Sivanathan, the author of the study, believes that by buying high-priced goods, people seem to declare themselves in a positive way and begin to feel whole and fulfilled.
The very process of acquiring an expensive thing creates a feeling of comfort.
But the scientist found a cure for the addiction. When buyers focused on something else, remembered what was of paramount importance to them (family, health, relationships with friends), their race for status goods stopped.
Before buying an expensive thing, you can stop and evaluate why it is needed: for convenience, beauty and comfort, or to satisfy your pinched ego? In addition, the purchase will not raise self-esteem and mood for a long time, on the contrary, the joy of it will pass very soon, leaving only new debts.
This effect was discovered by researchers from the University of Toronto (Canada). Initially, it concerned diets. It turned out that people on a diet tend to break down at the slightest sense of guilt from non-compliance with the diet.
That is, a person eats a little more, begins to condemn himself and says: "What the hell?! I've already ruined everything." After that, he absorbs even more food. Such a law applies not only to diets, but also to any activity in which the manifestation of willpower is necessary. For example, when a person quits smoking, quits alcohol or wants to stop spending money on unnecessary expensive things.
Guilt creates stress. A person needs to calm down, and he will do it in the usual way (as a rule, it is with the help of what he so wants to quit).
It works great with debts. A person is in debt, he has stress, which can be removed with the help of a new loan. The illusion of freedom and the joy of buying, short-term comfort and stress again. A vicious circle that can only be destroyed by evaluating your emotions. Reflect on it the next time you go to take out a loan. This will help you cope with guilt and stress.