6 Tricks for Minimizing the Fight or Flight Response

MAKING FINANCIAL CHANGES?

There are several obstacles to making significant financial changes. One of these is the fight or flight response. If you’re able to manage your fight or flight response effectively, it’s much easier to introduce change into your life. This will not only decrease the amount of stress you feel, but you’ll also be able to make bigger changes in your finances more rapidly.

If you can deal with a little, harmless discomfort, you can gain a significantly greater degree of control over your financial life.

Tame your fight or flight response and change your life:

01

Realize that emotions are only feelings.

• Take charge of your thoughts and your feelings will follow. Embrace your positive financial changes with all your heart and soul.
• when negative feelings creep in, remember that you’ve felt worse. Avoid letting the emotion of the moment control your thoughts and actions.

Links to Further Information:

• Understanding the Stress Response
  – Delve deeper into how stress affects decision-making and learn techniques to manage it effectively.
• Fight, Flight, or Freeze in Finance
  – Explore how the fight-or-flight response influences financial decisions and strategies to mitigate its impact.
• Overactive Fight-or-Flight Response: How to Calm It
  – Discover methods such as deep breathing and relaxation strategies to calm an overactive fight-or-flight response.
• 6 Ways to Calm Your Fight-or-Flight Response
  – Learn practical tips, including exercise and mindfulness, to manage and reduce the fight-or-flight response.

02

Being uncomfortable isn’t always a good reason not to do something.

• When your discomfort prevents you from falling off the roof of a building, that’s a very good thing.
• When your discomfort prevents you from taking wise financial actions, it’s important to ignore it and work through it. You might take a quick gulp when you decide not to buy something or send some extra money to pay off a debt, but the results are worth it.

03

Take baby steps.

• Learn to tackle your fight or flight response one small step at a time. Practice working through mild discomfort.
• Soon that new behaviour will be easy. Then you can tackle more uncomfortable feelings.

04

Breathe.

• The only part of your physiology that’s easy to control is your breath. You can control the rate and quality of your breathing.
• Slow, deep breaths can decrease feelings of discomfort and anxiety as you take action towards positive financial change.

05

Use physical activity to your advantage.

• If you’re starting to feel anxious, get some exercise.
• Physical exertion is an effective means of releasing stress and can help you renew your positive efforts for a bright financial future.

Even though my mobility is restricted, I try to do something every day, including assisted walking.

06

Control your self-talk.

• Negative self-talk will only serve to intensify your negative feelings.
• Tell yourself that you can make the financial changes that you desire, and instill a sense of confidence.

Increasing your tolerance to the fight or flight response can greatly enhance your ability to make positive financial changes in your life. Start slowly and build up your tolerance. Avoid letting your out-of-control fight or flight response limit your life or prevent the secure financial future you desire.

More Helpful Links:

• Budgeting Made Simple: The 80/20 Rule for Canadian Savers
  – Explore how simplifying your budgeting process can reduce financial stress and contribute to better financial management.
• Master Your Money: Small Changes for Big Financial Impact
  – Learn how implementing small, manageable financial changes can lead to significant improvements in your financial well-being.

You can print a free copy of the pdf from Free Planning Materials.

The Money Reservoir, a system for managing irregular income. A Smarter Way to Manage Your Finances and Harness the Power of Reservoirs to Break the Paycheque-to-Paycheque Cycle and Build Financial Stability. For more information please visit The Money Reservoir on Amazon

Disclaimer for ManageYourMoney.ca

The information provided on ManageYourMoney.ca is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be taken as financial advice. The opinions shared are those of the authors and are meant to encourage sensible financial habits and decision-making. We recommend that you do your own research or consult a certified financial advisor before making any financial or investment decisions. All investments come with risks, and there is no guarantee of success. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Always consider your personal financial situation and risk tolerance before pursuing any investment opportunities.

As always, I am not a qualified financial advisor. I just relate financial management to my own experience which may not resemble yours at all. Advice is frequently worth exactly what you paid for it. Most of mine came from expensive experiences.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. below.