Author: Joyce Marter
After 25 years as a psychotherapist, I’ve realized we all unconsciously repeat the familiar until we become aware and choose something better. We are shaped and molded by our families-of-origin and earlier life experiences, which impact everything from our career choices and relationships to our mental health and financial wellbeing. When we go through financial hardships, we can discover so much about ourselves. The first step toward healing and surviving financial hardship is to honor your past financial traumas. By doing so, you can regain financial stability and improve your financial health.
Honoring Your Financial Traumas. Traumas are events that our minds and bodies can’t process like usual life experiences. The result is emotional, cognitive and physical symptoms that can make it difficult to function. Although it may be painful to explore, it’s important to reflect on how you may have been impacted by intergenerational financial trauma, like slavery, genocide or major economic crises, such as the Great Depression. It’s also crucial to understand the impact of the chronic stress of poverty, inadequate financial resources and traumatic financial losses.
