If you’re catching your spending increasing even after the holidays, it may be time to take a look at your mood. During difficult times, it’s common for people to start spending money impulsively. Are you curious about why you’re suddenly spending more in the face of tough times? You might be surprised to understand the impact that spending can have for a short period of time.
You think that spending money impulsively will improve your mood
Often times, even without realizing it, people feel that spending money or acquiring things will improve their mood. They aren’t completely off base. The practice of rewarding yourself with a new purchase releases dopamine in your brain. This causes you to feel happier, but only for a short period of time. If you find yourself purchasing one thing after another, the constant release of dopamine might make you think that your mood is improving overall. However, this is short-lived.
While it can improve your mood briefly to purchase, the overall impact of shopping wears off fairly quickly. Also, it can leave you feeling worse. This is especially true if finances are tight. You may be left with the guilt of debt you have accumulated for just a short burst of improved mood.
It gives you a distraction
When times are challenging, we also often look for distractions. Have you ever had a hard day at work and caught yourself online shopping? When you do this, it provides a small amount of escapism from your current reality by presenting you with new thing to buy. You may actually purchase something. While distraction can be helpful during difficult times, it is also important to stay tuned in to your reality. This helps you cope with stress in a healthy way.
Spending money gives you a sense of control
There are so many difficult things happening in our society right now. Many of them feel out of our control. When we feel out of control, we often look for the things that we can exert control over. Spending money is one of those. How, where, and on what you spend your finances is completely up to you, and helps you feel more powerful than you are in the face of difficult circumstances.
When we spend money, we feel powerful over the many choices we have, which is the opposite of many factors in our reality. If you’re finding yourself spending much more than anticipated, check in with yourself to see if you are in a power struggle. If this sounds like you, think about other areas of your life which you can control. For instance, making choices about what you eat, where you go, or how you spend your time.
You lack the energy or motivation to manage your money
In difficult times, we might not have the energy or motivation to manage our money, and it can even cause anxiety to look at our accounts, especially when it comes to things like investments, which change daily. If we are spending extra energy trying to manage difficult feelings, our money management can easily slip from our grasp.
If you’re struggling to keep up with managing your money, it might be helpful to get a finance professional involved. Or, at the very least, set check-in points with yourself to make sure you’re on top of your spending and your income. Also, if you’ve found yourself in some debt, make a plan that works for you to help you feel more at ease.
Learn more about the author here: About Therapist Samantha Nolan, MA, LPC, ATR-P- Barnum Counseling
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