Balance Your Emotional Books

Age of Austerity

We hear a lot about austerity these days and mostly, we know that it relates to the government cutting back on spending in a way that few of us have experienced before.  The grand themes of cut-backs, fiscal policy, debt measured in billions and so on resonate with us all as we each try to balance our own books so that our personal spending as close as we can, matches our incomes.  Not always easy!

Managing Debt

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Balance Your Emotional Books
photo credit: Mukumbura

Looking after your money is key to this and there are a number of things that can be done.  Catching things early is always a good thing.  Watching for the early warning signs can help soften, delay or even prevent bigger problems.  Taking stock might help too.  You might find that things are not all bad and find ways to reduce spending.  Cutting down may be essential so that you don’t spend money where you don’t need to.  After that, it might be that you need specific help and some professional advice can be critical in helping you understand your rights, and how to manage complex money problems one step at a time.

Emotional Expenditure

When we spend more money than we have, debt is the outcome and it is no less a problem in our emotional lives.  Emotional debt can be a significant problem when we “spend” more of ourselves than we have.  This can creep up on us or it might be related to one or a series of life problems that are clearly identifiable.

Keep Your Emotional Books Balanced

Here at Brighton Therapy Service we are used to helping people who have overspent in their emotional lives and we can help and support you to  get things back in order.  Our advice parallels the way in which  we might keep our finances in order.

  • Recognise the early warning signs
  • Take stock: identify your strengths and weaknesses
  • Reduce your emotional expenditure
  • Focus on problems and tackle them one at a time
  • When things become more serious, seek professional help

Start Straight Away!

Early warning signs could be:

  • Poor sleep (Difficulty in falling asleep or waking early)
  • Feeling anxious
  • Irritability
  • Feeling over sensitive
  • Difficulty in personal relationships
  • Difficulty in work
  • Not  enjoying life at all
  • Feeling   hopeless
  • Increasing use of alcohol
  • Low energy
  • Unable to focus on any positives
  • Overeating or decreased appetite

(These are just some of signs which may indicate to you that things are becoming unmanageable.)

What You Can Do

In the early stages there are things that you can do that might help.  Take some exercise, talk to friends, get some time for yourself and do things you enjoy, have some time off work or talk to your GP.  You might also consider talking to a therapist and if that is the case, we would welcome the chance to see if we can provide you with some help. Sometimes a short piece of therapy  between 6 and 12 sessions is  enough time   for people  to explore and identify recurring patterns in their life which are causing them difficulties. Just having a space to talk confidentially about certain issues  can help people to discover their different options and help empower them to make adjustments to their life.

Get in Touch

This was written by Michele and you can contact her here.