Worrying about money

We are being bombarded daily by grim economic news of layoffs, bankruptcies, and other financial disasters. If you haven’t lost your job yet, you might be worrying if it will soon be your turn. This in turn can lead to gnawing fears:

• How will I pay the rent or mortgage?
• How will I pay for daycare?
• Can my family afford to get sick?
• Will we get behind on our utilities or cell-phone bill?

Read on to learn more about how you can cope in healthy ways with these fears.

We all look forward to the holidays and hope that they will be a time of happiness, friendliness, fellowship, and harmony. Yet often our anticipation and excitement turns into feelings of depression and/or family disharmony.

Part of what happens in the holiday season, in terms of mood changes and anxiety, may occur because of the stressfulness of holiday events. It may also be caused by overdrinking, overeating, and fatigue. The demands of the season are many: shopping, cooking, travel, house guests, family reunions, parties, office parties, and extra financial burden.

Sometimes people who are not generally depressed actually struggle with holiday depression. Symptoms can include headaches, insomnia, uneasiness, anxiety, sadness, intestinal problems, and unnecessary conflict with family and friends.

Read on to learn about some tools to get through the holiday season happily… as well as ways to prevent problems and misery for yourself and your loved ones.