Personal Finance Advice

It’s natural to be a little panicked when the economy is in a recession.  If you’re currently employed you might worry that you may not have a job for much longer, and consequently this might make you work even harder to keep your job secure.  Overtime? You take it.  Skip vacations? No problem.  You’re willing to work longer and harder than you ever have because you’re just happy to have a paycheck coming in while your neighbors frantically search for jobs to replace the ones they lost due to the recession.

It’s a natural reaction to a stressful situation.  Plenty of people are worried that they need to stockpile more savings or get debt paid down as soon as possible because they can’t be sure that they will have a job much longer.  Although this is an admirable aspiration, your panic should not force you into a situation that is detrimental to your health and can wind up with you getting burned out in your job.

Wouldn’t it be a shame if it turned out your job was completely secure during the recession, but you burned yourself out so much with working that you wind up getting laid off?

A prime example of this is how many people are forgoing vacations.  Even people who can afford to take time off from work and take a trip somewhere are deciding to instead keep working and go on vacation at a later time.  They’re terrified that taking time off work might point out to the higher-ups that work can be done while the person is on vacation, and maybe this means the person isn’t such a viable asset after all.

You need to take time off work once in a while.  Personal finances and job security are incredibly important, but taking time off from work is a health issue (both physical and mental).  If you can’t afford to go away to some exotic location then at least take a little time off to do something that doesn’t involve working. The fact is that working constantly is going to cause problems eventually, whether it’s with your physical health - your immune system will be more susceptible to illness if you aren’t getting enough rest - or your mental health.  The constant stress of working can be quite grating if you don’t get any time off.

Find ways to relax, and make sure to find a way to unwind from work.  While it’s important to care deeply about the state of your finances, you should care even more deeply about the way your pursuit of financial stability is affecting your overall health.