The Emotional Cost of Financial Avoidance

One of the hardest parts about financial stress is that most people suffer through it quietly.

They avoid opening the banking app. They stop looking at the credit card statement. They know the balances are growing, but they tell themselves they’ll deal with it next month, after the next paycheque, after life settles down a little.

And for a while, life keeps moving.

The mortgage payment comes out. The lights stay on. The minimum payments are made. Outwardly, everything looks fine.

But internally, the stress is building.

Avoidance has a way of sitting in the background of everything. It follows people to work, relationships, sleep, into everyday life. Not because people are irresponsible, most people are overwhelmed and afraid of what they’ll find if they look too closely.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about financial difficulty is that it only happens to people who are reckless.

That’s simply not true.

It happens because of divorce. Illness. Inflation. Rising mortgage payments. Helping adult children. Job changes. Caring for aging parents. Sometimes it happens because life became more expensive faster than income could keep up.

Sometimes it happens one small decision at a time.

Dinner out too often. Convenience purchases. A line of credit becoming part of monthly cash flow. Quiet overspending that slowly turns into a pattern.

Most people do not wake up one morning and decide to create financial stress, it’s a slow rolling snowball. 

The good news is that financial recovery often starts much earlier than people think.

Typically, the first moment of relief comes when somebody finally opens the statement, looks honestly at the numbers, and stops hiding from them.

Not because the debt disappeared overnight.

Because avoidance did.

And from there, we can make a plan.

Financial recovery rarely begins with perfection

It begins with honesty. I am here to help, if you would like to talk it out, I’m here. This is a judgement free zone. Trust me, I’ve heard it all. 

If you are feeling overwhelmed, there are organizations and educational resources available to help:

BDO Debt Solutions – https://debtsolutions.bdo.ca

Laurie Campbell – she is amazing 
Senior Insolvency Advisor
BDO Debt Solutions
Main: 613-212-6586
lacampbell@bdo.ca

Doris Belland Financial Services – When it’s time to start saving 
https://www.yourfinanciallaunchpad.com/

Government of Canada Financial Consumer Agency Resources
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/tools.html