Five Ways to Fight Discouragement

I decided to just embrace the whole five theme this week. 😉 See two previous posts (Five Things That Are Making Me Happy and Five Frugal Things)

While discouragement isn’t limited to the financial arena, it’s true that there are a whole bunch of ways that discouragement can drag you down when it comes to money.

For instance, you might feel discouraged about:

• how low your income is
• multiple unexpected expenses
• how everyone else seems to be retiring early and you are struggling to buy groceries
• how long it will take to pay down debt
• how long it’s going to take to save up for item X

 

And of course, there are countless ways that you can be discouraged about the non-money things in your life too!

Although I know I have a “cheerfully living on less” tagline on my blog, I get discouraged too, and I have to fight to get to a cheerful place.

So, in keeping with the five theme we have going on this week, I thought I’d share five things that help me to fight discouragement.

1. Stop comparing.

I know the whole “comparison is the thief of joy” thing has been beat to death, but my goodness, it’s so true.

Comparing my financial position to other people’s breeds discouragement.

Comparing my blog to other people’s can make me feel down.

Comparing my home to other homes can quickly make me feel like mine isn’t good enough.

But when I remember that my journey is mine, and that other people’s success really has no bearing on my situation, I feel less discouraged.

If someone’s running faster than me, that doesn’t change anything about my speed! I’d be running the same speed no matter what speed they were running.   But focusing on that faster runner makes me FEEL slower.

Keep your eyes on your own journey, not on someone else’s.

2. Look at how far you’ve come.

This can be a helpful kind of comparing…where you are comparing yourself with yourself.

Maybe you have lots of student loan debt left, but look at how much you’ve paid off.

Maybe you aren’t going to be able to retire early, but you are no longer living paycheck to paycheck.

Maybe you’re not making $200K/year, but your income is a lot higher than it used to be.

3. Focus on consistent progress.

I know many wise people will tell you to be goal-oriented, and I think there’s value in that.   But sometimes, focusing on a goal can be super discouraging, especially if that goal is enormous.

When I started saving up to pay cash for my van, I felt discouraged about how many bazillion months it was going to take to reach my goal. I felt better when I stopped thinking about reaching that huge number and instead focused on consistently meeting my monthly van savings goal.

Concentrating on the steady plodding felt better than looking toward a goal that was so far in the future!

4. Frame things as choices.

If you feel out of control, stuck, or like you are a victim of circumstances, you are pretty likely to feel discouraged.

But if you re-frame your situation using “choice” language, you will feel less discouraged and more in control.

You might feel like you have no choice but to say no to new clothes, no to eating out, no to a bigger house, but usually those things ARE choices.

You could choose to buy the clothes, eat out, and get a bigger house, but you are choosing to make wiser financial decisions, and you are choosing to avoid debt/pay off debt.

And by saying no to some things now, you are choosing to set yourself up for a better future.

5. Do self-care that doesn’t derail you.

If you’re feeling down about something financial, see if you can think of something inexpensive or free that could lift your spirits.

I’m sure you can easily think of some expenditures that would offer you some cheer, but spending more money is probably just going to make you feel even more discouraged!

Only you know what’s helpful for YOU, but perhaps you could:

• watch a free movie
• go for a walk
• talk with a friend
• give yourself a pedicure
• eat a little treat,
• take time to read a book
• get out into nature
• make yourself a tasty drink

You might even want to make a running list of inexpensive self-care ideas so that you’ve got something to refer to when you are bogged down in discouragement.

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There are definitely more than five ways to fight discouragement, sooo…

If you’ve got something to add to my list, leave your anti-discouragement idea in the comments to help out your fellow readers.