The dark depressing days of debt

Always look on the bright side of life? Sometimes it’s not the easiest thing to do especially if you have the debt monkey on your back. Some days you feel like the whole world is against you and that everything is happening in slow motion. This isn’t a debt specific problem – I’m sure wealthy people have their bad days too.

When you are having a bad day and you have a debt problem then it seems like the world is about to end. Nothing you can do is right and you find it incredibly hard to get motivated. I liken it to walking with a lot of mud on your boots. The heavy legs feeling, the lack of mental clarity and focus, the dread of going out and meeting people.

Yeah we’ve all had them.

Why now and why today?

A couple of years ago when these bad days appeared I used to wonder why the heck it was happening and what caused them? At the time I simply thought they were just random occurrences. You were due a bad day every once in awhile. After some time I began to realize that there is nothing random about these bad days. I now put these down days to cause and effect.

So what are the causes of these bad days?

For me food plays a huge part in my mood. I’m not diabetic but I certainly think I am sugar sensitive. Stimulant drinks like coffee or sugary foods like chocolate or white bread send my mood soaring but the come down can be hard. If I eat a lot sugary foods then I know for sure that I am heading for a sugar crash. This sugar crash in turn will lead me to see the world in slightly less than rose colored glasses.

Do you think that you may have the same problem? You might have but you might not yet realize it. The following article “Does Food affect Mood” goes into the explanation as to how food affects mood in more detail. It is well worth a read.

Directly related to food is something that also has a huge impact on my mood and that is sleep.

For me sleep is sacred. I know that may seem like an over the top statement but if I’m honest I’m like a bear with a toothache if I don’t get enough sleep. If I’m working hard and have had a few late nights in a row then my mood drops off a cliff.

When I’m tired from lack of sleep I tend to drink more coffee and eat more sugary food. These give me a short term boost but then they only add to my woes as their effects begin to wear off and I feel even more tired in the long run.

The link between food and sleep works both ways. Drink too much coffee before you go to bed and you will have a restless sleep at best or stare at the ceiling all night long at worst.

The food sleep relationship can be a vicious circle for me. This process repeats itself until eventually I have a bad day. To me having a bad day is my body’s way of warning me that I am pushing it and that I am not looking after myself. Once I sit out the bad day its like my body resets itself and says “okay we cleared the junk out for now but you really do need to get it together boy”.

I usually heed this warning and try to watch what I’m eating and try to get to bed at a reasonable time. This seems to work and once I take care of myself my mood returns to normal.

The debt effect

In the previous section I outlined how my food and sleep has a big impact on my mood. Feeling bad from poor food choices and lack of sleep is one thing. When you couple them with a debt problem that only seems to rear its ugly head when you having a bad day then that is a completely different thing.

When you are having a bad day every single negative thing in your life seems magnified ten fold. The debt burden that seemed controllable yesterday is overwhelming today. These negative feelings towards your debt can cause even more negative thoughts. It is these negative thoughts that feed on your bad mood and make you feel even worse. That debt problem seems to be growing and growing as the day goes on.

If you don’t stop your thoughts in their tracks then it will make for a very bad day.

I’m sure wealthy people have these negative days. Everyone does. But if you are in debt then these bad days have that extra element of stress associated with them.

Solutions?

I’m all about keeping it simple. Here are a couple of ideas to help you reduce the effects of a bad day.

Watch what you eat.

Simple, clichéd and boring advice but what you eat and dink is incredibly important in regulating your mood. You’ve probably heard this a thousand times “you are what you eat” - that phrase is so over used but it’s so true. I’m not talking about weight gain or loss I’m simply talking about mood regulation. Food is the key.

Get more quality sleep.

No I didn’t say sleep more! I said get more quality sleep. To me quality sleep means uninterrupted stress free sleep. So that means giving yourself time to wind down and de-stress before you go to bed. Make your bedroom an oasis of calm. Like the porridge in the Goldilocks and the three bears story, your bedroom should be not too hot and not too cool – just right.

The “I will deal with it tomorrow” card

I have a personal rule that I never make big decisions on an empty stomach, when I’m tired or when I’m in a bad mood. The reason why is that my decision making skills are seriously impaired if I am not feeling 100%. When I am having a bad day I put off making decisions – especially financial decisions – until the next day. If I’m still feeling less than 100% the following day then I simply put off the decision until I am feeling better even if it is a week later.

I go as far as saying to myself that there is no point even thinking about financial problems until I am in a better mood. I call this my “I’ll deal with it tomorrow” card. This is where I feel I can legitimately say to myself that I am excused from taking any action or even thinking about stuff.

For the rest of the day my focus is then on simply getting through the day and doing what I need to do just to function. In work I’m operating on automatic. I’m not doing my most creative work but then again I know the reason why so I don’t beat myself up about it.

Simple fact – bad days happen

The best and quickest way I find to deal with a bad day is to acknowledge that I am having one. Face up to the fact that it’s going to be raining all day and try to salvage what I can from the day. Focus on the simple easy to do tasks and put my head down get stuck in and tune out all my other thoughts as best as possible.

One point I will make is that while everyone has bad days if they persist and everyday seems to be a bad day even after you have changed what you eat and fixed your sleeping habits then it might be time to consider getting professional help.

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