Are you totally and completely feeling overwhelmed by your financial situation? Constantly worried that something won’t get paid? That you’ll have to choose between eating or putting gas in the car to make it to your job? Financial overwhelm, stress, and anxiety are way more common than you think! YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Financial overwhelm is not something you feel comfortable talking to your friends about. You may not even be able to talk to your spouse or significant other about it. Yet the stress and anxiety surrounding your financial situation keeps you awake at night.
And the longer this stress continues, the more it steals from your life and from your future.
If you’re reading this, you know it’s time to start facing those financial fears and anxieties. You’re tired of letting the overwhelm hold you back, and you’re ready to make changes.
***Grab the free PDF 3 Things to QUIT DOING if you want less overwhelm and more organization when it comes to your finances!***
A primary aspect to facing your financial overwhelm is knowing that ignoring the problem does NOT make it go away.
It will only manifest bigger and worse later on. If you ignore your money, the longer things continue the same, the bigger your financial mess will be, and the longer it will take to clean up.
Craig Ballantyne, health and wellness expert, blogger and published author at Early to Rise, has dealt with and figured out how to overcome massive anxiety in his own life. He has a personal motto for his life that I feel greatly applies to this area of financial stress and anxiety as well. 
Ready for it?
“Action beats anxiety. Work beats worry.” — Craig Ballantyne
So the next step in facing your financial overwhelm is to begin to take action.
First, identify the actual problems or stressors.
What is causing you to avoid dealing with your money?
What are your financial stress points?
What exactly is causing your stress?
Write it all out! Name those stressors by writing them down.
Here are some examples to get you going:
Living off credit cards
Overspending
Income too low
Too much debt
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
Late fees due to disorganization
Feeling out of control
Debt collectors
Scared to figure out exactly where you stand financially
Obviously, these stressors are making you feel out of control. Knowing and being aware is truly half the battle when it comes to dealing with financial stress triggers.
Once you have written out what is truly causing your financial stress, you can begin to gain control. The stress makes you feel out of control, but when you realize exactly what you’re dealing with, you can control your own life again.
The next action step is to take your list of financial stressors and let God have it.
Spend time with the Lord. Let His Word comfort and assure you. Pray about your situation. Know you can take comfort in who God is. He will always provide.
He will also give you the courage and strength to deal with the overwhelm. Do you feel like you need some courage to get over your fears surrounding your finances? Jennifer at Redemptions Touch has written some powerful words to help you get past that fear and be courageous!
In addition to giving your stressors to God, if you have a close friend or mentor you can talk these things through with, that will help as well. A true friend will be there to help and will not judge or make you feel embarrassed. These are real-life problems for MANY and you truly are not the only one dealing with these things! Who knows? They may be struggling as well, and you can both help each other!
If you still feel incredibly paralyzed by your situation, highly consider finding a counselor to work with. Working with a certified counselor, especially a godly one, can help you in so many aspects of your life, but especially when dealing with your finances. Depending on your situation and level of overwhelm, this could be the number one course of action you need to take.
Once you have given God that list of what is actually causing the financial overwhelm, start to brainstorm solutions.
Most likely, a few solutions have even come to mind as you were praying and reading Scripture.
If your sources of stress involved overspending, living paycheck to paycheck, and/or feeling out of control, it’s time to think of finding control in that dreaded B word…yep, a budget!
In the Penny Steward Mama Facebook Group, we now host a budget challenge monthly. The purpose is to get your budget updated and ready to go by the end of each month. Even if you’re a first-time budgeter, by the end of this month, you’ll have your budget prepared for the next month! Sign up for the budget challenge here!
If disorganization is a major stressor for you, let our Bill Trackers help you get organized! You can get the Bill Trackers by signing up for the email list. Plus they include a fun colorable image to help you de-stress as you keep up with your bills.
The stress makes you feel like things are out of your control, but a budget and some organization will put YOU back in control.
Devote time regularly to facing and dealing with your money.
Once you have committed to completing the above action solutions, it’s time to find the time to implement them. Again, the longer you put it off, the worse it will get, and the more anxious and overwhelmed you will get. So please don’t let it go another day without taking some kind of action.
It’s highly likely doing the next best thing for your finances will be a “frog” in your life. 
The frog concept comes from Brian Tracy’s book, “Eat that Frog”. It is something that you need to do that you are completely dreading and keep putting off. Instead of continually procrastinating on it, just go for it!
Get your “money frog” out of the way as soon as possible and as your first major task of the day! Set an alarm if you have to to remind yourself. Just do it, then everything else you do the remainder of the day will seem like a piece of cake 😉
And there you have it.
You CAN deal with your financial overwhelm, anxiety, and stress and you CAN gain control again.
First, know that ignoring the problem isn’t going to make it go away. If it’s not going away, you may as well take action to overcome your financial stress and overwhelm. Identify your major stressors and give them to the Lord. Allow Him to give you solutions through His Word and prayer, and also brainstorm some solutions. Two of the most practical solutions will include getting on a budget and getting organized. Most importantly, you must make the time to deal with your finances and face them on a regular basis.
I’d love to hear from you! How do you get past your financial overwhelm and take action? Email me at pennystewardmama@gmail.com or join the private Penny Steward Mama Facebook Accountability group where we discuss everything from money to laundry to anything else related to our lives! 😉
And as always, steward your money, and your lives, intentionally!
Heather
P.S. Don’t forget to grab your Bill Trackers by signing up for the Penny Steward Mama Newsletter! And enroll in the Budget Challenge here!
