Financial problems are an issue for many people for a variety of different reasons. You could find yourself in serious debt and about to lose your home or business, or you may have no savings and have just lost your job. Whatever your financial concerns, they can really get you down, as you can’t see an end in sight. You imagine that you’re going to be lumbered with debt for the rest of your and that the hundreds of phone calls and final demands you seem to receive on a daily basis will never go away. When you reach such a state of hopelessness it is not surprising if depression takes over you.
It can be incredibly difficult to retain a positive state of mind when you can’t enjoy doing anything without worrying about the cost. You can’t simply go out and buy your children some decent Christmas presents without first weighing up the cost of doing so. Usually, it is you that goes without, as you try to shield your children from the realities of being poor, but there will be occasions when your children lose out as well. Of course, you’d love to take them on holiday, but when you can barely cover the mortgage and utility bills you obviously have very little left over for such ‘luxuries’.
In the end, you feel guilty for not being able to provide everything for your family that you’d like to, while on those occasions when you do treat yourself to something that can be appreciated by the whole family you also feel guilty. You realise that the money you spent on day out at the beach could have been put towards paying off your debts or set aside for a rainy day. However, you can’t realistically be expected to put your life on hold until all your financial problems are sorted, as this may never happen.
It is depressing enough being in debt and struggling to make ends meet, without having to give up every single thing worth living for. When you’re on a low income you have to make whatever little money you have stretch further than most people and so you have to be organised and plan how you intend to spend every single penny. It isn’t exactly enjoyable living this kind of existence, but it is not exactly as though you have much choice when you have limited financial resources. What is clear is that you can easily slide into depression when you allow financial problems to overwhelm you.