It's weird. When I had managed to save up $7000 in my bank account a couple years ago and I just moved out of my parent's place after two years of living with them, I was able to balance my books and have money left over every month after expenses. One large emergency nearly wiped all that out. Downgrading to paycheck to paycheck after being relatively well-off can really destroy you psychologically. You start to see money as something that you may not ever have again instead of something you can save and invest for the future.

But in reality that's the opposite of what you need to do to build yourself back up.