How tough times shape our mindset

When we chat about economic struggles, most folks only think about how it hits the wallets and bank accounts. But honestly, these tough times mess with our minds way more than that. When people are under economic pressure, they start thinking short-term. Instead of planning for the next investment, they’re just focused on where their next meal’s coming from. Forget about any big spending. Also, financial struggles really kill the ability to take smart risks or try out new ideas. No one wants to gamble with their resources when there’s no guarantee of getting anything back, which means missing out on possible rewards. The mental stress that comes with these hardships can totally tank a person's productivity too. So yeah, economic policies matter. When hardship hits, it’s not just about the money problems; it seriously messes with how individuals and families think.

Well, hardships does affect people psychologically but it does it in two ways, it either helps you develop critical thinking because you need to survive or it damages you as you said above. Generally how an economic hardship affect someone totally depends on who they are, their mentality and how they see or approach problems. Investment? During hardships? I think the best someone would do is to figure out how he/she can escape that hardship. This totally depends on the mentality of the person, for some people..they actually get and try out new ideas during these hard times and they take risk because they understand, “Not taking risks is the biggest risk”.

When survival becomes the priority, there is no room for thinking about long-term goals, which is why developing countries with high unemployment rates are struggling when it comes to innovation and creativity. But who is at the fault here? High population or corrupt leaders is possible cause but as individual we can't decide where we are born so we have to adapt to where we are and then see is there any escape from there.

The rate of suicide increased in my country as the economy got worse. Poverty affects every aspect of an individual. However, through studies or experiences, one might be able to maintain a sound mental state even in extreme poverty. There have been instances of people who grew up in a poor family or environment but they didn't allow the condition to affect their mentality. For those in poor countries, investment is a luxury since the focus is on survival. Your perception about not taking risks is true. Due to my limited financial resources, I often struggle with making decisions. I would have to extensively scrutinise a business idea before investing. This January because I am afraid of losing my hard-earned money.

I can't agree more with you. I have been in this situation but now I am in a lot better shape but still I am trying to make my economic state better so I can take better risks to improve it more. It is easier when you have to take care of yourself alone but when you have to take care of the family as well then you have to give up on taking risks and have to use every single penny for survival. With time, we make enough money to take risks accordingly and when we take it, we learn if it's worth it or not. I have taken several risks and they were not huge and I still have two in mind to start my own agency and I need some investment for it and I have been trying to save funds too but every single time I end up using them somewhere else. But the effort continues

This is definitely a reality that many people face, often when you are scraping by on minimum wage you will jump at the chance of extra hours on top of an already full week - but this can leave you so drained that you cannot even imagine reaching upwards. That is if you are lucky enough to have a full time and stable job, in many countries that is a hard thing to achieve. There are so many different circumstances across the world it is hard to describe them all. Government policies in progressive countries should give that balance of flexibility to businesses for hiring things like apprentices at cheaper rates, not stifling jobs by raising the minimum wager too high, while also trying to encourage more education - as ultimately you need those higher education jobs to help individuals move up the economic ladder.

It is often said that he who pays the Piper detects the tune, anybody that controls your finances, literally control's your life, economic hardship in most cases is deliberately done by the government so that they can control the People's mind so that they cannot have independent mindset. A financially independent mind can stand against the government and challenged them against policies that are not in favor of the masses, and the government knows all of this, hence they make sure the people go through hardship so they can be busy thinking about the next meal to eat, instead building legacy.

Government of some countries are the major problem they have when it comes to economic hardship and how survival keep getting worst for the citizens, what most of the corrupt leaders does is to invest in another country that is already better than their own country, neglecting putting things in order in their own country before they have somewhere else already better for them and their families, instead of building good hospitals they go to other countries for treatment, instead of building the educational sector they send their children out of the country, no employment opportunities in their own country yet they have companies in other countries, even with the high population if government of most country can fulfill their obligations things will get better than the usually way, people are surviving because of adaptation.

Yes this is true, those who are seriously going through hardship don't engage themselves in anything long-term they would rather go for the one they know it would pay off within a short term that is why people keep falling victim to scam especially from this ponzi scheme, because Ponzi schemes is the only thing I know that pay off within a short term but the risk is much. I know the economy is hard but we shouldn't allow it to influence our mentality where as we won't think about the future if not what we would get in the short term, although we need quick money to enable us survive but while doing that we also need to start making plans for the future.

And yet, people choose them again to be their leaders, then how things are going to change? If an individual wants to buy a property in another country and send their kids to another country and such is perfectly good as long as they do that with their money that they made legitimately, not by taking the tax payers money or just giving false expenses under a project that is never done that is crime but they get away with it on most cases.

Ones environment to a large extent, does shape their mentality and how they approach life in general. For example, someone who grew up in extreme poverty, might grow up to see the world as a place with no opportunities, even when it could be staring right at them. Now, that does not mean people don't change that reality, a lot of people do, but it takes work. Truth is, many people accept it and they remain that way. It is easy for people to talk about "savings", "investments" and stuff like that, but many people living in poverty just want to eat and hope for the next meal. You must first of all have crossed the "survival stage", were you don't worry about physiological needs, before you can even think of stuff like that, and sadly many people are stuck in that stage forever.

Having to experience economic hardship will result into severe mental health struggles (depression, anxiety and hopelessness) and even affects physical and emotional health. Because once the mental health is damaged, it will also complicate other components of holistic health. In the end, a person that suffers from economic hardship will experience loss of stability, social isolation and reduced quality of life. It's proven also that if left untreated and gets to prolong the hardship, it will led into poor decision making and bigger financial troubles in the future.

If you are of a minority group what you says or choose can never count and this is how politics works and the truth is no matter how bad a government can be there must be those who must be benefiting from that same government that others are complaining, honestly it is very hard for things to be even rather we wish that things should only get better instead of worst, politics should be a call to serve and keeping good legacies that will stay a test of time but hell no what we see in most cases is personal and selfish interest.

Well, it does not affect the mental health alone, but it could damage also the other dimensions of wellness. Economic hardship can be handled well if you don't resort into panicking and stay focused on its effective solutions. But if a person is weak and has no clear plans and goals in life, most likely he will be the target of depression and anxiety, and having no support system, the reason why its easy for others to decide committing suicide thinking that it will end their sacrifices in life. Economic hardship, if left ignored and fail to secure solutions, will always lead to worst case scenarios in life.

What you said is extremely right, due to financial crisis and the economic situation, people struggle just to put food on the table, the rate of inflation has been rising higher day by day. These have actually made the situation more worst for the people. They don't even think of saving in order to set up or start up a business, rather they're only focus now is on how they are going to meet up with their daily needs and requirements. These hardship has become unbearable for the people because their income is not enough to cover up their expenses. Plus, the rate of unemployment that is increasing day to day, after putting so much effort and spending so much resources in seeking knowledge they end up getting nothing in return, this is unfair.

Hardship is greatly influenced and impacts negatively on the mindset including the thinking pattern of individual which are struggling financially. Hardship conditions your thinking pattern to a fixed point were everyday what you are thinking and planing is what you will eat and survive. This is why poverty is not only bad but dangerous because it doesn't only suffer the individual but make such a person to think that like someone who is in slavery. It only takes people who are disciplined to break away from such state.

I agree on this, because if by any means you experience hardship, it will make you feel inferior, less of yourself to be bold enough to say your mind to people you find to be richer than you when you are in contact with them. You will be easily controlled by them to abide by their instructions or words even when it is right or wrong. You will be adamant in challenging them or taking any financial risk because your brain is clouded by the ways to feed the next day if you invest what you have for long term, what will be off you and the family to feed and rely on

That is correct, but it still depends on us and how we control our emotion. If we really want to win, we should treat it like a game, like we are already in that situation and we need to find a way to get out of it. Because even during economic hardship, there are still people who benefit from it. So instead of thinking that we are already in a hole and can no longer get out, maybe we should try to figure out how to become one of those people who can still find opportunity in a bad situation. That’s life, man. It is full of challenges, but how can we survive if we only focus on the negative situation we are in? Better to use our brain and think of ways that most struggling people may not have thought about. Maturity in life and decision making will really show during tough situations.

Economic hardship can be the sole motivation for you to want a better life, for you to want to take risks, because you know you are already at rock bottom and cannot fall lower. There are people who have been born into environments that should affect their mentality, but they have not allowed it; rather, they have taken it and turned it into a reason to want to do better. Mentality matters a lot while trying to get a better life. If your mentality doesn't match the life you want, it will be hard achieving.

I guess any form of hardship will contribute an effect to our psychological state of being. But one of the most detrimental I know is coming from economic hardship, where everyone is not excused from feeling it especially with the high inflation that I think will stay for good. Basic living expenses like food, housing and healthcare, once left unmet, will trigger the rise of economic problem. This does not just affect mentally, but emotionally, spiritually and physically as well. And if you are not wise enough to cope up from all of these, then you will get doomed. And that often leads to high stress, depression and long-term instability that will certainly affect your quality of life.