When it comes to stress and worry my Achilles heal has always been money. Since I was 21 years old I have been petrified of being poor, and without any source of income. There is a reason for this too. I left home at 18 years old, and unlike my peers I didn’t care about making money – I just wanted to play music, hang out with my friends, and smoke weed. I look back on the kid and shake my head still.

I instantly went from living in a middle class house with my parents to living in extremely run-down apartment buildings surrounded by others who were very poor, on welfare, assistance…….and of course drugs and alcohol. I learned very quickly what the world looks like when you are on the bottom of the money ladder.

At first I didn’t even care because I was always high, and I had my music. I still had basic health too from eating and exercising properly as a child living with my parents – but time ticks on, and with a really bad diet, and zero exercise, I began to crumble emotionally and physically. I’m 6’3″ tall and now weigh a comfortable 250 lbs – back then I was only 140 lbs. I had a messy beard, faded and ripped clothing, and frankly I could almost pass for a street urchin.

I soon learned to FEAR being poor and having to live in a neighborhood like that again. I’ve never managed to shake that fear.

Still Worrying About Being Poor

So here I am at 47 years old with the same OLD fear of having no money to live a comfortable life. No money to buy decent clothing. No money for good food. No money to have a car to get around in, and no money for any kind of entertainment.

Ironically, I try to help people get over their fear, and keep a balance emotionally. I write all my frilly words in an effort to help my readers relax and finally believe that they are NOT alone. I believe every word I write too, but when I see that my wife and I might me facing a financial set back, I am a lost child – petrified and in a full blown panic attack.

It’s the one thing that I seem powerless to control in my life. I look back on my entire adult life, and every time I have been overcome with anxiety, fearful, frozen, and having panic attacks, it was because I told myself that I should be afraid of being poor.

Oh yes, they say that we all have this fear trigger regarding money, and it’s SORT OF true. What’s different is the LEVEL of fear, worry, and anxiety a person has over lack of money. We’re all concerned, but we’re not all terrified over lack of money.

So today on this post, I can’t say I have the answers because I still torture myself over this, but I DO know what I begin to tell myself when these fears have gripped me. I will share this thought process with you.

How I Stop Worrying About Money

There are certain things I tell myself like a mantra when I’m scared and worried about not having enough money. These are listed below;

• “There are people starving and living in filth all over the planet, and you live in a nice home in North America – get real”
• “When I was poor it wasn’t being poor that was the problem – the problem was the lifestyle choices you made”
• “Out of the billions of people on the planet, what makes you think that your problems are such a big deal?”
• “You are 47 years old and you have been employed somewhere since you were 16 years old – what makes you think that you won’t find a job, or find a way to make money in the future?”
• Wake up – go for a walk, and just make a choice NOT to worry about money right  now”
• Stop taking yourself so damn seriously
• Stop making up little fantasies of poverty
• It’s not about ME
• You are not poor – get real!

These are just some of the things I remind myself when I’m frozen with fear over money. It helps to remember that we are not alone and that there are billions of people on the planet who are fearing poverty like you are, and further, if you live Canada or the United States you always have a way to change your direction and create a lifestyle that begins to lift you out of poverty.

The Wealthy Fearing Lack of Money

Most often the people who worry about having no money are the ones who have it. My brother-in-law has a friend who is a market trader and he has a personal wealth of over $10,000,000 dollars and absolutely no debt. He is constantly gripped with fear over money. He has recently been buying up gold like crazy because he is so worried about losing any of the money he has.

This is proof that my fear of being poor is a fantasy in a relative comparison. Fear of having no money is like any fear – it’s a fantasty fear when it’s the actual situation – I’m worrying about a POSSIBLE future life situation that is not factual. It may never be a fact that I end up on the street and poorer than a church mouse again – slim chance – why?

Because of my huge fear of poverty I have paid special attention to finding ways to not be poor, and create a residual income for myself online. Because of this my financial situation is very fortunate indeed. My wife and I are not rich like the fella I just described, but we are certainly in the financial category of upper-middle class.

The house is apprasied at $650,000 in the current market, we only owe $155,000 on it. We make over $5000 a month net income from Internet traffic, and we don’t have ANY high interest debt – such as credit cards, overdrafts, and lines of credit.

Sure we have a mortgage payment of $900 a month, taxes, bills, car payment, RV payment, and food costs, but we are FAR from being destitute. Because of my fears regarding the possible lack of money, I have spent most of my waking hours working to avoid it, whereas another guy might not fear financial ruin, and never spend any extra time worrying about money, and working hard to create more monthly and yearly income. Because of this attitude, that guy may end up over his head in debt. He will worry about it for a short time, then make a lifestyle change (usually forced to may a change due to bankruptcy) and be done with. His financial worring is kept short and it’s real. Nothing to get hung about every day. If only I could do that.

Money Fears (lack of) Because of a Past Bankruptcy

One of the other reasons my anxiety is so easily triggered by money worries is because I had to claim personal bankruptcy about 11 years ago. Once again – I was defenseless against my worrying mind, and I put myself through a living hell for about 6 months.

So now ALL bills are paid when they come through the door, we don’t carry any debt over a month, and we clap down on spending as soon as it looks our monthly income is not going to cover our monthly bills. It’s over-kill and I know it.

The only way I stop worrying about money is to earn allot of it. When our little Internet business is making over $10,000 a month I begin to relax beautifully, and when we are dipping below $5000, I’m full on panic mode.

Maybe Some Day I’ll Finally Stop Worrying About Money

Some day maybe I’ll stop worrying about money, and I know that day is coming sooner than later. Then I’ll have to find something else to worry about. No problem – I will find something to worry about – always have and maybe always will.

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