{"id":108,"date":"2024-04-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/finanxiety\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T18:51:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:51:32","slug":"finanxiety","status":"publish","type":"essays","link":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Finanxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The other night, I was feeling guilty about how little I had accomplished all week. Almost as if on cue, the Instagram algorithm spearfished my anxiety: An ad for an \u201cAI assistant\u201d appeared. It showed a woman wiping down an already-clean counter in a candlelit kitchen. She was \u201cfinally cleaning her house,\u201d she was learning French, she was managing her money, she was baking a chocolate cake. Her life was in order, it seemed to claim, because of this one simple trick<\/em>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>\u2018The juice\u2019 is how I refer to the get-up-and-go-mojo that propels me through my to-do list like a heat-seeking missile.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

I sat up a little straighter in the sweatpants I\u2019d been wearing for three days. The \u201ctrick,\u201d of course, was some to-do list management system that costs \u201cjust 62 cents a day.\u201d In my moment of greasy, inferior weakness, I swiped up, filled with visions of myself in a committed relationship with an adult skincare routine and an uncanny ability to remember other people\u2019s birthdays. In this future, not only was I crushing it professionally, but I was also bilingual, moisturized, and on top of canceling free trials before they charged my card for $9.99 plus tax. <\/p>\n

My hope curdled when I discovered it was just an app that mapped your time-blocked tasks onto your calendar for you. My problem wasn\u2019t a lack of time or Google Calendar mastery\u2014it was simply a lack of the juice<\/em>. \u201cThe juice\u201d is how I refer to the get-up-and-go-mojo that propels me through my to-do list like a heat-seeking missile. It is the joie de vivre<\/em> that compels me to plug my transactions into my Wealth Planner, respond to texts, take out the trash, write words for a podcast that\u2019ll (hopefully) make you laugh and think.<\/p>\n

It had been rainy and cloudy all week, and I, evidently running an operating system about as sophisticated as a clearance Home Depot houseplant, had been moping around\u2014unable to photosynthesize the juice. <\/p>\n

Reluctant to accept that I was doomed to juicelessness, I diligently tried everything to summon it: cold plunges, cardio, hydration, caffeine, weight-lifting, walks, affirmations, pointing at myself in the mirror shouting Get your shit together!<\/em> I wished there were a hard reset button I could press on my brain and body to recalibrate the vibe and restore my patience with everyone around me, but short of psychedelic drugs (considered, but ultimately discarded, as too much of a wild card), I realized the juice cannot be manufactured from concentrate. <\/p>\n

I searched high and low for motivation, but all I found was irritation and indifference. I still feel anxious<\/em>, she says, between her third and fourth shots of espresso. I checked my Oura ring app to see where I was in my hormone cycle, hoping that might explain it\u2014only to spiral further upon realizing I was in the thick of the phase when energy, clarity, and motivation are supposed to be at all-time highs. Betrayed, I had nothing left in my biohacking toolbox to throw at the psychological discomfort. We had officially reached the bargaining phase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>I realized the juice cannot be manufactured from concentrate.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

In a particularly anxious moment, I recategorized my transactions in Copilot, an attempt at exerting control and order over something that felt consequential yet manageable. I was rewarded with a tiny drip of dopamine. <\/p>\n

The funny thing about this state of chronic agitation and analysis paralysis, I\u2019ve found, is how interconnected our anxieties can be. They are not discrete figurines to be moved around our lives like chess pieces. They are more like primordial soup, and *game show host voice* you\u2019ll never guess what latent fear is going to emerge next<\/em>. What\u2019s that? Oh, it\u2019s a video of a bridge collapsing! <\/em><\/p>\n

As such, my anxiety about money (usually irrational) seems to crescendo when other<\/em> things feel out of my control. <\/strong>When a trip itinerary gets scrambled or my laundry piles up and leaves me with no clean underwear or I miss a deadline at work, I find myself compulsively reaching for my banking app to quantify my security. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Recently, I received an email from a reader who had finally gotten around to rolling over her old 401(k) into an IRA. She was surprised by the way completing this simple-but-annoying task shook loose a dormant motivation: \u201cDoing it made space in my life to pursue other financial goals. I hadn\u2019t realized the amount of low-level anxiety that had been running in the background because of this situation. <\/strong>Now I have a list of financial goals I want to tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n

In my suboptimal state, I found her desire to tackle things enviable\u2014but her message made me think of a browser with a bunch of tabs open, each sucking a small amount of bandwidth away from the mainframe (now\u2019s the part of the essay where I pretend I know how computers work). After a while, you become accustomed to the cacophony of buzzing from each open tab, and the louder it gets, the harder it becomes to focus on any one thing\u2014but the diffusion of source material makes it feel as though there\u2019s no \u201cone thing\u201d you can address to quiet the volume. You\u2019re swimming in the soup of an overdue medical bill and a backlog of reading material and an unfinished grocery list and a partially planned birthday celebration and edits for the client and\u2026 Money becomes just one<\/em> of the things contributing to a generalized sense of unease. This overwhelm has a flattening effect, making prioritization feel impossible and futile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>Money becomes just one of the things contributing to a generalized sense of unease.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Entrepreneur and writer Chelsea Fagan shared in a recent TikTok<\/span><\/a> how this two-way street flares up in a predictable way in her life: \u201cIf you were to chart my anxiety over the last decade, you could basically lay an identical chart of my external financial stress over it.\u201d She revealed how, in an earlier phase of life plagued by a suspended driver\u2019s license, wrecked credit, and seemingly insurmountable debt, she had been prescribed an anti-panic medication. Over the years as she gained her footing\u2014financial and otherwise\u2014she found her anxiety became curiously more manageable. She owns a place in New York City! She writes books! She has good credit! <\/p>\n

But last year, her company hit a rough patch, and she had to personally loan the business money to make payroll. Suddenly, she said, she found herself doggy paddling in the same panic-inducing overwhelm that characterized her earlier adulthood. She got an emergency prescription. <\/p>\n

Her story raises a question about our body\u2019s natural fear responses to situations that are straightforwardly untenable. We might build up arsenals of self-optimization to help us metabolize lives that place too many \u201curgent,\u201d competing, and complex demands on our brains (as I have, with my temperature-controlled mattress and biodata treasure trove), but what does it mean when our bodies begin rejecting the optimization and, by extension, the circumstances that necessitate it? <\/p>\n

In her recent essay My Anxiety<\/em>, Lauren Oyler emphasizes \u201cemotions as shaped by power structures.\u201d Academics first began kicking around this approach with the term \u201cAmericanitis,\u201d describing \u201c\u2018the high-strung, nervous, active temperament of the American people\u2019 in an 1898 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>.\u201d This timing is especially notable when you consider that historian Jonathan Levy pegs 1895\u20131904<\/span><\/a> as the \u201cAge of Capital\u2019s climax,\u201d when \u201cindustrialization [occurred] on a scale never previously imagined.\u201d And they didn\u2019t even have TikTok to stoke their fears about all those new bridges!!!<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s pretty easy to disprove the thesis that money is a cure-all for mental health issues\u2014look no further than billionaires getting into pissing matches on Twitter with other grown men using their full government names for proof that even an endless supply of money won\u2019t save you from yourself. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
>
\n \u201c<\/span>There\u2019s only one thing that can generate escape velocity from thin air: momentum.\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

But it\u2019s obvious to me that the relationship is at least a little<\/em> causal, and in both directions: Can a lack of money (and the subsequent sense of precarity) create anxiety where it didn\u2019t formerly exist? Almost certainly. Can financial clarity and control ease feelings of powerlessness or chaos elsewhere? Again, my money\u2019s on \u201cyes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Regardless, last week I found that when the mental chatter reaches fever pitch, there\u2019s only one thing that can generate escape velocity from thin air: momentum. Muscling your way through any<\/em> \u201ctab.\u201d As much as I\u2019d love to tell you disengaging entirely and rewatching the last season of Love is Blind<\/em> was the answer, avoidance tends to make things worse for me.<\/p>\n

I assure you: It will be positively miserable! Just like submerging your body in cold water or, worse, waiting on hold with your 401(k) provider\u2019s customer service center. But the momentum from closing the first tab is the only force strong enough to launch you out of the fray. I should know\u2014finally doing the dishes was the only thing that gave me the juice to write this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other night, I was feeling guilty about how little I had accomplished all week. Almost as if on cue, the Instagram algorithm spearfished my anxiety: An ad for an \u201cAI assistant\u201d appeared. It showed a woman wiping down an already-clean counter in a candlelit kitchen. She was \u201cfinally cleaning her house,\u201d she was learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2504,"template":"","meta":[],"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","essays","type-essays","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-psychology"],"yoast_head":"\nFinanxiety - Money with Katie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finanxiety - Money with Katie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The other night, I was feeling guilty about how little I had accomplished all week. Almost as if on cue, the Instagram algorithm spearfished my anxiety: An ad for an \u201cAI assistant\u201d appeared. It showed a woman wiping down an already-clean counter in a candlelit kitchen. She was \u201cfinally cleaning her house,\u201d she was learning […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Money with Katie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T18:51:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-1024x683.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/\",\"name\":\"Finanxiety - Money with Katie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-01T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T18:51:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Essays\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Finanxiety\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/\",\"name\":\"Money with Katie\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Finanxiety - Money with Katie","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Finanxiety - Money with Katie","og_description":"The other night, I was feeling guilty about how little I had accomplished all week. Almost as if on cue, the Instagram algorithm spearfished my anxiety: An ad for an \u201cAI assistant\u201d appeared. It showed a woman wiping down an already-clean counter in a candlelit kitchen. She was \u201cfinally cleaning her house,\u201d she was learning […]","og_url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/","og_site_name":"Money with Katie","article_modified_time":"2025-09-03T18:51:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-1024x683.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/","name":"Finanxiety - Money with Katie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png","datePublished":"2024-04-01T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T18:51:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/money-blur-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":1706},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/finanxiety\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Essays","item":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/essays\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Finanxiety"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/","name":"Money with Katie","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essays\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essays"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essays"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneywithkatie.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}