Financial health and mental health are two separate things. The way you approach your finances can affect the way you think about life and how you feel about yourself. But once you get into the habit of being financially healthy, the benefits reach far beyond just your bank account balance.
Mental health is about how you feel, while financial health is about your money. If you’re living in debt or struggling to pay bills on time, it could be contributing to an unhealthy state of mind that negatively impacts both physical and emotional well-being.
When people talk about “mental illness” or “emotional issues,” this means something is going on in the brain which affects our ability to function properly as humans (i.e., being able to think rationally). When we talk about “financial problems” being bad for our mental health—or worse yet, causing mental illness—it means that something has gone wrong in terms of finances; specifically, there’s been an issue managing one’s money effectively enough so as not only meet short term needs but also long term goals as well!
Sometimes you’re so busy chasing the next dollar that you forget to take care of yourself. You might not realize how important it is to make sure you have enough money in your pocket so that when times get tough or someone needs help—you don’t have to worry about whether they will be able to pay their bills later down the road.
You can spend too much time calculating your money.
If you’re like me, then you’ll be reading this article and thinking “Wait, what? I’ve never heard of that.” The point is: there are so many things to consider when it comes to financial health and mental health—money isn’t one of them. In fact, focusing too much on the numbers can actually make us miserable and deprive us of having fun. When we overthink our finances (and other aspects of life), we miss out on living in the moment because we’re always worried about how much money we have leftover or how much debt we should be paying off next month instead of focusing on our current situation at hand…
The best way for me personally has been learning “how”, not only how but also why my finances work best for me; making sure my goals align with those values has helped tremendously!
Technology can be an excellent ally in your financial health journey.
Technology allows you to stay on top of your finances in a way that’s much easier than manually checking the balance of your bank account or credit card statement, which is often an all-or-nothing process that leaves no room for error.
For example, with technology, you can see if there’s been any change in balances or fees over time (e.g., new charges) without having to call customer service and ask about them directly—and then wait for hours as someone else deals with this issue for you! With technology, everything is automated: once there’s been an input error or discrepancy identified by the system itself (a “positive” outcome), this will automatically be corrected immediately without any human intervention required; meanwhile, everything else continues running smoothly behind the scenes until its completion time comes around again next month when another batch gets processed through again.
Balance is key to both financial health and mental health.
Balance is key to both financial health and mental health. It’s easy to forget that we are all individuals, and have different priorities, goals, and life experiences. When you’re feeling financially stressed, it can be tempting to reach for your credit card as a means of self-medication (or even if you’re not feeling stressed). But this isn’t going to help your long-term goals—or even make sure that you have enough money in the bank so that unexpected expenses don’t cause panic attacks!
If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years as a personal finance blogger: finding balance requires making sacrifices along with achieving our goals. And while both financial health and mental health are important parts of our overall well-being as human beings on this planet we call home (yes!), they don’t have anything in common when it comes down.
Author
