Adjusting to Suddenly Reduced Income
The Importance of How You View the Situation
Shock and denial are the first reactions of people experiencing unplanned changes.
How you perceive or see a problem or situation affects how you deal with it. Two people can experience the same set of circumstances, but view them differently. For one person, a forced reduction in the number of hours he or she can work might seem devastating, but to the person who no longer has any job, the loss of hours does not seem so bad. How you view or perceive a situation will influence how you communicate, make decisions, and solve problems as you deal with it.
How much stress you experience in a situation depends on the intensity of meaning you have attached to it. You can change your interpretation of an event by reassessing your priorities. Studies on families who suffered major income loss show how they were able to adjust their perception of the situation. These families changed their priorities from "What we are losing is the most important part of our lives, to our family and our health are the most important parts of our lives". Sometimes you can limit your options or fail to consider possible solutions because of the way you see, define, or describe the problem.
