You may be wondering if you have financialitis, but do not know what symptoms are needed for a correct diagnosis. See if this is how you are feeling. One day, you wake up exhausted, realizing you had been having a horrible dream about money which caused you to toss and turn all night long. Now you begin to wonder how you will get through the day. Your symptoms are body aches from head to toe, neck and shoulder pain, a low back ache and your feet hurt when you stand on the floor. It feels like you have been hit by a truck. You stumble to the bathroom as your mind starts to clear and become more focused, and that is when you realize your dream is actually your reality. Now your breathing may become shallow, your heart rate increases and you may begin to sweat. Does this sound like you? If so, you have joined millions of people worldwide who are suffering from the same kind of symptoms.
Financialitis and the Stress Response
The stress response is a built-in, primitive, automatic reactive system that gets triggered when a person perceives a threat which in turn signals the body to begin a cascade of events, similar to that described above. The body naturally wants to escape the impending danger and begins to prepare itself. The problem for modern-day citizens is most times there is no actual physical threat present. Our brains and bodies have been reprogrammed to now include non-physical perceived threats which evoke the same response, such as worrying over finances. And, in our high paced, pressure laden society, the revved up body has become a constant means to get through the day which in the long run ruins our health, relationships and ultimately our finances. It becomes a vicious cycle unless steps are taken to break it.
The symptoms of stress and the symptoms of financialitis are in fact very similar because stress is stress no matter where it originates. The effects of stress can be mild to severe, and can have short or long-term consequences. Actually, stress can prove fatal by increasing blood pressure, and induce a heart attack or a stroke without any underlying cardiovascular disease. For women, the statistics are even worse because the first heart attack is often the last due to the high death rate.
Steps to Controlling the Symptoms of Financialitis
Getting control of your finances is perhaps the best thing you can do to reduce or eliminate the symptoms. Here are some ways to accomplish that:
1. Make a list of all your fixed expenses that you need to cover on a regular basis.
2. Compare what your expenses are to how much income you need to pay the bills.
3. Eliminate wasteful spending on unnecessary items, such as the daily coffee purchase at the big priced specialty shop.
4. Stop using your credit cards for non-emergency items and commit to paying them off starting with the highest interest rate card.
5. Recognize it will take time to reverse the problem since it probably did not occur over night and habits need to change.
Denying the problem of financialitis and avoiding the implementation of necessary steps to reduce or eliminate the symptoms will continue to be a detriment of your health and your relationships. By taking these first small steps, you are gaining control over a monster which haunts you day and night. As you see success, you will feel and sleep much better.
Charlene Christiano is an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner with over 25 years experience in healthcare. Her firsthand experience in providing patient care has helped formulate the concept of Wealth Care, which is the combination of health and wealth in order to live a full life. Additionally, her experience with helping patients and families at end of life has further defined wealth to be more than about money. As an educator, author, lecturer and practitioner, her goal is to change the perception of health and wealth and make a global impact on the lives of millions of people.
