4 ways to deal with money anxiety

No matter what your experience of divorce, unless you’re an uber-wealthy celeb, chances are you had some issues around money. And it’s totally normal. With big changes in relationship status come big changes in financial status.

There are a plethora of flavors when it comes to money anxiety: going from two incomes to one, having to learn how to take care of complex financial topics, and worries of not having enough. This kind of stress can affect your physical health, along with your mental health. During a divorce, getting upset about money or even arguing about it with your ex, can make everything worse.

It’s tempting to deal with our money anxiety by simply ignoring things. Logging in to check our bank account gives us the fear, so it is easier to just not look. Unfortunately, avoiding the scary realities isn’t a real solution so what can we do to quell the nerves around our finances?

Sonya Brewer, a somatic psychotherapist, was interviewed on the Secret Library podcast, where she was talking about how to regulate your nervous system when dealing with money. Her tips were around breathing, especially when you don’t feel like you can look at your account balance. She said that it wouldn’t be easy at first, but by sitting with your discomfort, and deeply breathing into it, especially while looking at your finances, it’s possible to get yourself to a comfortable physical state. It takes practice but it can be done.