Three Tips for Managing Financial Anxiety

If you’ve ever struggled with financial anxiety, you’re not alone—

I’ve been there too.

Money worries have been a recurring theme in my life, but over the years, I’ve learned tools to help me navigate those moments of fear and overwhelm.

In this post, I’m sharing three tips that have been game-changers for me. They’re simple, effective, and have made a big difference in how I approach financial matters.

I hope they help you too.

Tip 1: Get Physical to Reset Your Nervous System

One of the first things I learned about managing financial anxiety is the importance of movement. There have been so many times I’ve felt paralyzed at the thought of looking at my finances or tackling something like a negotiation. What I’ve discovered is that moving my body—even just a short walk around the block or a quick set of squats—helps shift that frozen, overwhelmed feeling.

Here’s why: movement triggers the release of mood-boosting hormones like serotonin. It also helps calm the “fight or flight” response in your nervous system, making it easier to think clearly. For me, getting my heart rate up even a little before diving into financial tasks creates space for calm and focus.

So next time you’re gearing up to look at your bank statements or tackle financial planning, try a few minutes of intentional movement first. You might be surprised at how much it helps.

Tip 2: Set the Initial Conditions for Success

I’ve also learned how much my environment impacts my ability to approach financial tasks without feeling overwhelmed. If I’m hungry, tired, or just not in a good headspace, even the simplest financial task feels impossible. Over time, I realized that setting myself up for success starts with creating the right initial conditions.

For me, this might look like:

• Putting on my favorite fuzzy sweater to feel safe and grounded.

• Making a cup of licorice tea (it’s like a hug in a mug).

• Using orange essential oil because the scent instantly lifts my spirits and makes me feel abundant.

These little rituals help me feel more relaxed and remind my nervous system that I’m safe. When I’m in a state of comfort and ease, it’s so much easier to focus, stay on task, and approach money with patience and curiosity.

What makes you feel safe, warm, and ready?

Try creating your own “goldilocks conditions” before diving into financial matters—it can make a huge difference.

Tip 3: Seek Support to Decrease Shame and Increase Discernment

This was the hardest lesson for me to learn, but also the most transformative: it’s okay to ask for help. For years, I believed I had to figure out money stuff on my own — but all that did was deepen my anxiety and shame. Reaching out for support was a game-changer.

When I started talking to trusted people—friends who love spreadsheets, my coach, and even communities of like-minded folks—I noticed two things:

1. My shame began to melt away.

2. My ability to make thoughtful, discerning financial decisions improved.

We’re not meant to handle everything alone.

If financial anxiety is weighing on you, think about who in your life might be a good source of support. It could be a friend who geeks out on investing, a therapist who can help normalize your feelings, or a coach who offers practical tools. The most important thing is to recognize that you’re not alone.

If you’re looking for a supportive community, consider joining the upcoming Embodied Money Trauma Reset (EMTR) 101.

Over six weeks, starting January 28, 2025, we’ll explore how the nervous system impacts your relationship with money, why earning more isn’t always the answer, and how to approach financial well-being from a trauma-informed, somatic perspective.

Final Thoughts

These tips—moving your body, creating the right conditions, and seeking support—have been so helpful to me as I’ve worked through my own financial anxiety. They’re simple, but they’ve made a world of difference.

If you’re feeling stuck, start small. Even one intentional action can begin to shift how you feel about money. And remember: you don’t have to face this alone.

(EMTR) 101: Embodied Money Trauma Reset is now open for enrollment for a limited time. Class begins January 28th, 2025. Get the details and save your spot.

Evolutions Not Resolutions

The Frank Gehry-designed Google office in Venice, California. 

Evolution (Webster’s): noun

(secondary definition) a process in which the whole universe is a progression of interrelated phenomena

By this time of year, more likely than not, the shape of the New Year has already taken form in your life.

It probably looks a lot like it did last year.

Unless of course you have undertaken some hearty resolutions in 2016.

Then perhaps you are busy working out, eating vegan, meditating daily, starting your own company, volunteering, saving money, having fabulous sex and being on top of all of your email accounts.

No? Not really?

Yeah. Me, neither.

And that’s why years ago I gave up entirely on the whole idea of New Year’s Resolutions.

By this time of year – late January – I was back to my old ways, beating myself up because, once again, I had failed to live up to the promise of the earnestly made and sincerely hoped for resolutions.

All the guilt, blame and shame couldn’t get me to the gym when it was freezing outside or to reply to all correspondence in an efficient and orderly fashion.

Touch each piece of paper only once!

Reply immediately to all email correspondence in the order received!

File all bills and paperwork chronologically and pay upon receipt!

And when I looked up from my own messy pile of paper and electronic flotsam and jetsam, I noticed something else:

Most other people I know and admire don’t make - or keep - New Year’s Resolutions either.

So what gives?

Why do some people achieve and maintain a level of mastery and fulfillment in their lives, while others loll about wanting and resolving to make this the year that our dreams come true but never actually achieving it?

I am convinced that the difference between those that do and those that don’t has to do with who and what they are identifying with in each moment.

If I see myself as a small, separate little ego-based entity, it is hard to get traction on achieving goals. I might make plans, spreadsheets, to-do lists. But if I am identifying with the isolated “I” – and the scared, anxious and frightened states of being associated with it – it is almost impossible to create long-term sustainable change.

But when I begin to reflect on who and what I am being in relation to an experience, and how that being is manifesting in the world, all of a sudden the small, sustainable actions required to transform a life become not only doable, but meaningful, joyful and often fun.

One of the more interesting definitions of evolution touches on this inter-related nature of all phenomenon (what the Buddhists call dependent arisings or emptiness).

Think about it.

If you want to, say, write a book in 2016, you can think about wanting to say something to the world, and finally proving to your high school classmates that you are worthy, valuable and special and let your ego drive you to wake up at 4 am to write before going to a job you hate.

Or you can think about who you want to evolve into being in your life – perhaps a thought-leader or someone who has an impact on the world – and allow that state of being to pull you forward in your vision as you acknowledge the impact your own personal evolution has on the inter-related nature of all phenomena.

When you consider and reflect on who you want to evolve into in the coming months and years, something special happens. You fully harness the power not just of doing in the world – something most of us are pretty good at – but also fully maximizing who you are being, as the highest expression of your own potential.

And when you do that, not only do you begin to achieve your New Year’s Resolutions, but you also evolve into the man or woman you were always meant to be.

Want to explore New Year’s Evolutions even more in the coming year? Join me Friday, January 29th at the Google office in Venice for this community event and get started being the change you wish to see in your own life in 2016.