The past few years after COVID-19 have been the absolute worst; everything keeps rising—petrol, daily groceries, electricity, housing—to the point where you're barely making ends meet. Just to imagine, I've been looking for an apartment for over 6 months and haven't found anything yet. Not only is there a very limited supply, but those available are either too expensive, poor, too small, or everything combined. Thus, this is creating a huge feeling of uncertainty, as time is running out and I need to get settled down. Renting outside of town in the nearby villages isn't ideal either, because petrol is way too expensive.
I'm not sure if anyone else feels the same, but this uncertainty with the increasing living costs and the ongoing rat race is causing me excessive stress. On top of that, moving out of the country doesn't seem ideal either, because most European cities are also suffering similar conditions, along with an extensive immigrant crisis (see France, Italy, Germany, and the UK). I'd be interested in remote working, but the economics field I've studied at university isn't in high demand for remote working, which often recruits IT workers and generally fields that require hands-on experience. As soon as I'm settled down, I'm considering taking up a data analysis course and finishing my master's degree in order to look for more opportunities abroad.
I don't know, but each year seems progressively worse. It wasn't that bad before COVID-19; now it's the ultimate worst I've seen, and it's about to deteriorate even further. Thankfully, this forum has been a blessing and probably the only thing giving me hope, as it has resulted in me making a decent sum of money in the process. I'm yet to start looking for a job, but salaries are relatively low, despite the increased cost of living. To make matters worse, excessive weather conditions due to climate change are happening way more often now, causing floods and wildfires and destroying everything in their path. See Libya, Greece, Italy, Spain, and many more examples.
Maybe I'm stressing out too much because I'm yet to find proper housing to establish myself again after being away for over a year in the military. I'm generally an anxious person myself, but does anyone else feel the same, and how do you deal with it? How do you stay optimistic?
I relieve financial stress by trying to plan and budget as far ahead as possible. Knowing how your money is being spent, at least roughly, is essential to a brighter future because chaos will breed erratic behavior. Having a bit of flex and buffer in the budget also helps too, so you're not too strict with your spending which can take away a lot of the fun in life. You also need to be poised to take advantage of certain situations, like special offers or even deals which can pop up out of nowhere but offer a lot of benefit. Being careful with your day to day spending is super important, as one or two wasteful spending activities day to day - like expensive takeaway coffee - can eat up a lot of cash which may be better to invest elsewhere.