Little Recession, Not Great Depression

This is an article by Mary Hunt from www.debtproofliving.com. I thought it was very optimistic and hopeful. Enjoy. :)

Five Ways to Escape the Doom and Gloom

Has the current state of the economy planted a dark cloud over your head that follows you wherever you go? Some experts, as reported recently in the U.K.'s Daily Mail, suggest an unlikely remedy: throw a tantrum. They say that screaming and shouting expels negative energy caused by stress and that an all-out tantrum will make you feel better.

With all due respect to the experts, I'd like to suggest five, more reasonable ways to chase away the dark clouds:

1. Take charge of your thoughts. I don't care what the subject matter is, if you immerse yourself in it every day by watching it on cable news, reading about it in the newspaper and talking about it with everyone, you will begin to think about it all the time. If it's a negative subject, your demeanor will change as will your attitude. These days, the media is having a field day with what's going on in Washington, D.C. and on Wall Street. You don't have to be a willing recipient. Choose your thoughts by carefully monitoring what you put into your mind.

2. Launch into austerity. What would you do right now if you got notice that your job will be eliminated in six months? You'd start saving like crazy, eliminating unnecessary spending and you'd dust off your resume. Do that right now. Start living as if that is going to happen. Funnel the money you don't spend into an all-important emergency fund.

3. Pay off debt. Now, more than ever, you need to rid yourself of your high-interest credit-card debt. Sure, the rules for credit grantors will change (in 2010), but until then they can still up your interest rate and change the terms and conditions of your credit card account on a whim. Come up with a realistic plan to become debt-free and your spirits will soar. So will your credit score.

4. Keep a balanced perspective. Memorize a few statistics and then emblazon them on your frontal lobe: 1) During the Great Depression the jobless rate jumped to 25 percent. We have yet to reach 7 percent today. 2) Bank failures, not hedge funds or risky investment, wiped out the life savings of millions of people. To date, not one person has lost a nickel in an FDIC-insured bank account. 3) Some 44 percent of all mortgages were delinquent by 1934, compared to about 4 percent today.

5. Love the job you're in. Instead of worrying about losing your job, redirect that energy into becoming the last employee your boss would let go. Concern yourself with the needs of the company. Dig in and do more than is expected. Be the first to arrive and the last to leave. Instead of feeling entitled to every drop of benefit you can wring out of the system, find new ways you can contribute to make your workplace an oasis of joy and optimism. Become a giver instead of a taker and just see if that doesn't change everything!