Addiction recovery involves some major life changes, and it also requires us to change our thinking in ways that can be pretty dramatic in comparison to how we thought before. If you have financial fear in recovery, remember you’re not alone.
Ways to Deal with Financial Fear in Addiction Recovery
If you’re in early recovery and you’re worried about your finances, following these financial tips in recovery can help you start getting back on track:
Learn to Separate Your Wants From Your Needs
When we’re in active addiction, we tend to chase the things that give us the most pleasure right away. But, in our quest for instant gratification, we often neglect things like proper nutrition, doctor visits when we’re sick, paying our bills on time, and, in extreme cases, adequate housing.
So, when we get sober, we need to re-establish what’s truly important. This might take practice if we’re used to living for our next fix, but it gets easier with time.
Avoid Buying Things on Credit
To try some good old-fashioned envelope budgeting, try leaving your debit card at home and getting cash out of the ATM ahead of time. Decide your budget for the week in advance, and only take out enough money to get you through the week. Of course, if there’s an emergency, you can always grab a card, but try to make it hard for yourself to grab your card easily and make impulse purchases.
Make Shopping Lists Before You Go to the Store
Planning out your purchases before shopping makes you much less likely to make impulsive spending decisions. It only takes an extra five or ten minutes of preparation, but it’s an effective way to save money by only purchasing what you need.
Set Savings Goals
Whether you want to go on vacation, purchase a new car, or purchase a new home, writing down your goals will give you a tangible reward to work towards. Visualisation is a powerful tool when it comes to saving.
Whenever you’re tempted to make an impulse purchase, consider your savings goal. If you stop yourself from that impulse buy, you can put the money you would have spent directly into your vacation, car, or house fund. Make it like a game, and watch your savings grow.
Make Shopping Lists Before You Go to the Store
Most of the time, we think we need to spend loads of cash on things we don’t need because we’re not grateful for the things we do have. Start writing down 5-10 things you’re grateful for at the beginning of each day. Revisit the list throughout the day whenever you’re tempted to spend money unnecessarily. More often than not, you’re likely to find that you have everything you need.
Benefits of Overcoming the Fear of Financial Stress
It’s important to remember that if we’ve left messy situations in our wake, they won’t disappear the moment we get sober. That said, the ability to manage our finances will improve over time if we allow serenity to replace financial insecurity.
Better Financial Choices
It’s common in early recovery for us to want to self-soothe, which might include making purchases to feel better. To combat these urges to spend money, we need to start looking within while working through the fears that relate to our feelings.
As we begin to do this, the need to fix things through external means will lessen. As a result, it will become easier for us to control our spending. As we learn to control our spending, we’ll notice improvements in our financial situations.
Builds Trust and Opens Career Opportunities
Also worth keeping in mind is that when we continue doing the inner work while staying away from drugs and alcohol, people start to trust us more, and employment opportunities arise. Furthermore, when we ditch the substances and the alcohol, we’ll start saving more money because, let’s face it, drugs and alcohol are expensive!
Helps Us Shift Our Priorities for the Better
The more we work on ourselves from the inside out, the more gratitude we experience for the simple things in life. Our needs begin to change, and we start to value connections, friends, family, a roof over our heads, and a home-cooked meal over material possessions. As the need for material possessions disappears and we learn how to manage our emotions, we realise that money doesn’t equal happiness.
Better Balance and Harmony
Once again, our financial situation isn’t going to change overnight when we quit harmful substances, but at the end of the day, it’s not really about our financial situation in the first place. It’s about changing our relationship with money and finances while finding balance and harmony. Usually, when these changes occur, our finances invariably have a way of falling into place.
Don’t Let Finances Be a Barrier to Treatment
Like every fear we face in sobriety, overcoming our financial fears takes time. But if we stay on course with our recovery work, it will leave us, and before we know it, we’ll discover what true financial freedom feels like.
If you or someone you care about struggles to get or stay sober, Kembali can help.
Help is around the corner, and you never have to walk this path alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are other fears in recovery?
Other fears while healing from addiction may include fear of failure, where many people fear that they are going to relapse. The fear of facing emotions can also be common since emotions can hit hard when there are no substances to numb feelings.
Why is financial fear so common in recovery?
Financial fears in recovery are common because addiction often leads to financial instability. Many people addicted to harmful substances tend to mismanage money and accumulate debt. As you quit addiction and the fog lifts, the consequences become clearer and can even lead to a fear of being sober.
Is financial freedom possible in recovery?
Yes, fear and recovery don't have to go hand in hand. Financial freedom can look different for everyone. For some, it may mean finding peace with one's financial situation. Others may view it as not letting money fears control one's life.
What are other ways to reduce stress during addiction recovery?
Practising mindfulness or meditation can help you ground yourself during recovery. Finding a support network, whether this is a loved one or a professional, can help relieve emotional pressure. It's also important to prioritise your sleep and nutrition, as this can be a difficult time for your mind and body.
