I have always known that there's something about January, but I have never thought that a day called blue monday has been pegged to it. Thanks to this prompt, I have added another piece of knowledge to my archive. Before we dive right in, what is blue monday? Basically, in simple terms, blue monday is the most depressing day of the year which happens to be a monday of course lol. It could fall on the second, third or even fourth Monday of January. These days are usually plagued with anxiety and depression.
Basically, not everyone is mentally sound for the seamless shift of holiday to work mode. For some, there are bound to be hiccups and these hiccups could materialize in the form of debt, financial burdens and the year not starting out as expected or planned. Personally, my year is not going as planned but I'm just winging it.
One major challenge for me this new year is that a lot of things that I said I would do as a start up are still victims of procrastination. The other things that had happened so far, are not what I had planned so basically, I'm not in full control of how my year is going but I'm still keeping a sane mind and not let anxiety get the best of me.
Right from when I was a child, in my country, January has been categorised as the two in one month making it the longest month of the year. But is it really the longest month or that's just psychology at play? Walk with me. For some reason, this January is very fast, I guess people were very intentional with their finances because towards the tail end of last year, it was like a social media campaign. Different influencers were advising people on the need to spend wisely for the holidays and also save for January being that it's the month of bill payment. Again, recently, since I have not really seen people begging for one form of financial support or the other on social media, I'd say that most people took the advice of prudent spending during the holidays seriously.
With my life experiences, one major cause of anxiety and depression that I'm aware of and I have even experienced, is being broke. You know that feeling of being financially inadequate? The feeling of having all these lingering debts that one can't pay off completely? Thus, causing stagnation of expenses? Every second, you are constantly worried of being indebted, you are worried of your financial outcome and even your next meal. It becomes worse if one has a family that is dependent on them and then if the person is a salary earner? They are left at the mercy of their employer who might not even pay up at the end of the month but allow the pay to linger half way through the next month.
For someone who panics a lot and used to battle with anxiety in the past, I'd pin point that the worst moments of my life back then was not having money to provide my basics. Knowing that January would be tough, I prepared because I do not want to go back to the dark place that I left behind.
In order to preserve my finances for the rainy days in January, I did not do any expenses during the holidays, which doubled as the festive period. In Fact, I had packed my family on an invitation to go celebrate with the rest of our extended family. Not only that but every pay I had received for December was left untouched and it all came to my rescue this January in settling expenses.
Right now, my mind is at rest because for what is worth, my family and I are not begging for food or financial aid and we have enough to carry us till the next paycheck comes.
So far, planning financially well and strategizing for the rainy day has not been the only tool that I use to curtail or curb anxiety. You see, I have one life principle and I remind myself of it alot. This principle states that, "whatever that is out of my control, cannot bother me, will not live rent free in my head and of course, would be accepted for what it is.
Oftentimes, the denial of a problem and the continuous pondering on the situation kills faster than the actual problem. Thus, Instead of thinking of the problem, I think of a solution and this has always helped in putting my anxiety in check.
Above is my response to the inleo prompt in collaboration with emotions and feelings community, you can participate HERE or HERE