Managing Anxiety During Stressful Times
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 11:36AM In the brochure, Overcoming the Money Fear Factor, Rev. Rick Owen outlined practical ways that congregations can plan for the future and build support for funding their ministries.
In this [article], my focus is on managing anxiety during times of financial stress. How can we respond to the economic pressures and stresses in our world? How will we manage if our savings have been reduced by one-half? How can we respond when our jobs, our homes, and our futures are at risk? As our nation’s economy moves into recession, how can we stay calm and bring our best thinking to the problems that we face? These are real and important questions that will require us all to adapt to new economic realities. What follows is one man’s attempt to think about some practical steps in dealing with the stresses that face us in uncertain economic times.
While the times are uncertain, one thing I am certain about is:
We are anxious.
Money and anxiety are fist cousins; they are not always bound together, but when holidays are approaching or economic tension is high, they stick together like glue. We are anxious when there is not enough money, when there are disagreements on how to spend it, and even when there is too much. In anxious times it is normal for us to absorb some of this anxiety personally. One bit of grace we can all practice is to realize most of us are doing the best we can. Also, if we know a little about anxiety, it can help us be calmer.
Anxiety is not bad. Anxiety is our natural and automatic response to threat. When we feel physically, mentally, nationally or emotionally threatened, our bodies become anxious. We change physiologically and mentally. This is God’s way of helping us stay alive, because if we couldn’t get anxious, we would never know danger and take precautions.
However, a complicating factor for us is that we not only have real threats, we have imagined threats. Someone said that after he turned 60, every time he had a headache, he just knew he had cancer. Most of us have seen enough TV, read enough novels, and seen enough movies to be able to concoct worst case scenarios. So a first step in dealing with anxiety these days is:
Deal with the Real.
In anxious times, we need facts. We know that when it comes to our medical health, we are calmer once we know the facts of our health; that the lump is benign, the headache is just fatigue, or that the abdominal pain is the flu is important information. Knowledge is power when it comes to dealing with anxiety, and facts are our first line of response.
This is why when it comes to our economic health, most experts urge us to make a budget, take stock, and prioritize our spending. Learning the facts of our economic lives will be a foundation on which we can manage our fears.
It is alos a fact that all of us need help every now and then. Not one of us has all the knowledge to understand all there is to know about the economy. But there are people with expertise who can help us think through our financial options. Churches that sponsor economic seminars and make use of finance professionals in their congregations are doing us all a great ministry.
It is also a fact that accuracy is hard to come by. E-mail stories, television, radio, and newspapers need to be double checked before we react. For instance, if the national news is about rising rates of foreclosures, does that mean the same is true in your neighborhood? Facts need checking. Remember the old story of Chicken Little, Henny Penny, and Foxy Loxy? It is worth looking up if you don’t, but it tells the story of how anxiety is contagious and can block our ability to make wise decisions.
Based on facts, we can take a second step to:
Remember who we are.
When it comes to money and economics, the Biblical witness is we are stewards in the house of God. The earth is the Lord’s. The earth, our money, our time, everything that is, is God’s. When a child is born, we thank God for the gift of this child. When you die, we gather and remember that before you were here, you were with God, and we release you back to God. This puts us in the position of caring for rather than possessing life. This orientation changes our work from getting and competing, to managing and caring for what is in our keep. In other words, we are stewards and our work is one of stewardship.
What is stewardship?
Stewardship is the act of being responsible with something that actually belongs to someone else. Based on this definition, every Sunday is Stewardship Emphasis Sunday; it involves all of life — not just money. It is a discipline that all can practice in our own way. The practice of stewardship can define what we do and who we are.
One way of practicing stewardship is to become a steward of your stuff.
Most of us have more stuff than we can manage, and many have to buy storage units to accommodate it. The gap between the amount of stuff we have and our ability to take care of it all is a source of anxiety. This applies to material things as well as stuff to do. When we have more to do than can be done, this creates anxiety.
One way of reducing anxiety is to take as objective a view of yourself as you can, sometimes asking someone you trust to help you be accountable in this. Your goal is to simplify life and put your energy into people and activities that mean something to you. Working on a budget for yourself and your family is a good way to start. It doesn’t have to be complex, but it does have to go by the golden rule of budgeting — spend less than you earn. If you have been living beyond your income, then you are not alone. But, spending less today will help you spend less tomorrow, and you are on a step-by-step process of balancing your financial life.
Living simply is a spiritual discipline that is embraced across the Christian church. Your church library may have resources on simple living, but the best resource may be among your senior members. Many older church members have tips on saving and simple living that would be a great gift for their grand- and great-grandchildren.
Another way of practicing stewardship is to become a steward of self.
When you are stressed, do you begin to think of what you can do differently to manage your stress, or do you earnestly look for someone or something to blame? Most of us will do the latter. Blame is a never-ending activity that solves nothing. The healthy alternative is to take stock of self and change what you can in the way you are dealing with your life. What can you do? Ask yourself the following questions:
- What spiritual disciplines have you practiced? Which are calming to you? How can you work them back into your life?
- What forms of exercise can you do? How and when can you add times of activity to your week?
- How is your nutrition awareness? Do you have access to healthy foods? Are you making the most of your meals?
- Are you practicing moderation in all things?
- How is your social life? Do you have friends you can talk to, play with, enjoy? Do you have hobbies that balance you?
- How are you doing in balancing work, play and prayer? What adjustments are needed?
I agree with all those who believe our lives are a gift from God and that our job is to care for it as well and as long as we can. It is not selfish to take care of yourself. The stewardship of self is a spiritual discipline.
Finally:
The most common commandment in scripture is “Don’t be afraid.” It is what the angels always say. Everyone is anxious these days, but we have choices in the ways we respond to anxiety. Finding ways to lower our fears and embrace our hopes is a good beginning. Biblical people can live with less fear when we adopt the role of a steward and envision our common work as one of stewardship. During these anxious financial times, stewardship becomes a spiritual discipline with far reaching effects.
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