It is high time that you comprehended hardship management

?“Financial hardship is a top risk factor for suicide attempts. According to a new study, people who have recently experienced severe financial strain may have a 20-fold higher risk of attempting suicide than those who have not encountered hardship,” reads Medical News Today’s 8th September 2020 article.

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World Health Organization[WHIO]’s 28 August 2023 article reads “More than 700?000 people die due to suicide every year. For every suicide there are many more people who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is an important risk factor for suicide in the general population. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds. Seventy-seven per cent of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. Ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally. Suicide does not just occur in high-income countries but is a global phenomenon in all regions of the world.” Those details constitute a compelling message that you ought to care about this area of hardship management, because every person including you is likely to encounter a hardship at any time.

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Hardship management and health are intricately connected because financial, emotional, and social difficulties resulting from hardships immensely affect a person's well-being. Effective hardship management assists in mitigating negative impacts from adversities and fosters better health outcomes.

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Emotional hardships like grief, loss, or trauma lead to mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Financial problems cause chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. This stress, in turn, exacerbates or contributes to mental health issues.

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Financial constraints do not just limit access to healthcare services, medicines, and preventive care; which creates deteriorating physical health. They also prompt some people to commit or try the most extreme act. The article by Medical News Today reads “A study that appears online in the?American Journal of Epidemiology?indicates that financial strain is a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Prof. Elbogen and his colleagues conducted their research before the start of the pandemic [COVID-19], on a representative cohort of adults in the United States.

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They analyzed data from 34,653 adults interviewed first in 2001–2002 and then in 2004–2005 as part of the?National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Trusted Source. The researchers found that being in debt or facing a financial crisis, unemployment, past homelessness, and having lower income were each associated with suicide attempts.”

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Financial difficulties engender a number of other adversities which negatively affect health. Limited financial resources beget poor dietary choices which are likely to lead to malnutrition and related health issues like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Financial hardships sometimes result in the lack of social support which intensifies the feelings of loneliness and depression, causing consequences on both mental and physical health.

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WHO points out that suicide forms a serious public health problem. This UN agency mentions different types of hardships causing people to perpetrate or attempt suicide. It also incorporates financial difficulties as issues causing people to behave like that. “Many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-up or chronic pain and illness.

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In addition, experiencing conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss and a sense of isolation are strongly associated with suicidal behaviour. Suicide rates are also high amongst vulnerable groups who experience discrimination such as refugees and migrants, indigenous peoples, and prisoners.”

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Hardships prompt some people to adopt fruitless coping mechanisms, including substance abuse, which further aggravate health and engender addiction or other health problems.

WHO contends that this problem of suicide can be successfully handled. One of the best ways to cope with such an issue is the one indicated by the photo. As you will lean it a bit later, such an interaction is key. WHO says “However, suicides are preventable with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions. For national responses to be effective, a comprehensive multisectoral suicide prevention strategy is needed.”

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Effective management of hardships entails a holistic approach which handles financial, emotional, and social challenges. By implementing strategies which furnish financial stability, it will contribute to mental health, accessible healthcare, and strong social networks.

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It signifies that the national responses suggested by WHO need to consider the holistic approach. Otherwise, such responses will remain unproductive.

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Mechanism which you have to apply to appropriately handle your hurdles

As we have even said it in the introduction and even emerges, anyone can be hit by adversities at any time. It means that you can also meet them at any time. This justifies that you ought to be interested to know how you can cope successfully with hardships. Even if you didn’t experience them, you could employ the knowledge to help your relatives, friends or community members.

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In this respect, we have discovered that the most effective and proper mechanism to address a hardship includes talking about it to a person. The latter one can be a counselling professional, a family member, a friend or a trustworthy community member/neighbor.

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If your adversities are weighing intensely upon you, don’t be late approaching a clinic psychologist or another trustworthy person. To prove its mammoth importance, I’m going to supply two examples.

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The first one involves me. In 2003, I faced a financial hardship, but I didn’t speak of it to anybody. Instead, a friend of mine who was also experiencing a financial difficulty expressed it to me and I found that it was so easy that I provided him with the amount that he needed. He told me “I desperately need 7000 Rwandan francs ([RWF] then, around $7), for me to be able to feed my family these days.” He had a wife and two children.

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An amount of cash which I then needed to solve a problem, with which I was struggling, immensely surpassed that sum which he needed. That forms the reason why I decided to furnish him with the money since this money couldn’t mean nothing to me, in relation to the gigantic amount which I needed.

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With the money, the man managed to solve the problem, just because he told me his case. However, I waited for a long period of time for me to secure the cash that I wanted, especially since I didn’t reveal to any other person. I believe that I could have found a person to support me, if I had disclosed it.

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The second example is that of an issue revealed by man during his sermon in May 2023. “Before I was plunged into extreme financial hardship, I was actually wealthy, I could go anywhere I wanted; I was almost always in Kampala in Uganda, to perform as a musician.”

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Before the adversity, he owned a business of not less than 50 million RWF [around $50 000 then]. Yet, as already said, one day he found himself in abject poverty. All started with an accident which he underwent. The accident caused him to remain in hospital for several days. Because of the accident, he has been amputated a leg. He now walks on a crutch.

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He experienced such miserable life that it happened that he failed to pay the rental fees of a house where he lived. He rented the house at 15 000 RWF [about $15 that time] a month, and spent 3 months, without paying the landlord.

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The accident and its ensuing hardships have galvanized him to worship the Almighty God. “Seen the debt, I felt compelled to go to pray on a prayer mountain where I met another man who was also praying,” he told us before adding “The other man asked me ‘What are you praying for?’ I answered him ‘I’m praying for 45 000RWF which I have lacked, for me to be able to pay the landlord; I have failed to pay him for three months and I no longer sleep.

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He replied ‘Is it that problem which is tormenting you? If it is that, I will solve it because I possess this money that you need, and this amount is extremely insignificant by far, compared to the issue which I sustain.’ I have obtained a contract, from an institution, to provide products but the institution has not paid me yet and a very long period of time has passed. I have come here, to implore God to intervene for the institution to give me the gigantic amount of 300 000 000 million RWF [ nearly $300 000 then]’.”

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This man who then evangelized us bears a very high level of faith. Availing himself of it, he and the other man prayed so that it instantaneously produced a fruit. “After we prayed, I heard a voice tell me ‘He is going to be paid’ and he suddenly got a phone message reading ‘300 000 000 RWF are deposited on your bank account’.

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We were maximally delighted; the situation was so astounding that we failed to fathom what had just happened. We then left for the bank for him to withdraw a certain amount of money, after which he took me to one of the strongest supermarkets in Kigali. He told me ‘Purchase all that you want’. I bought and bought to the extent that he paid 700 000RWF [about $700] and he gave me 60 000RWF for rental fees. He also purchased me a leg prosthesis worth 12 000 000 RWF [then, around $12 000].”

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We hope that you have already grasped the undeniably great importance of disclosing your problems to another person.

Another vital approach involves not perceiving that your hardships have arisen to incapacitate you. You instead need to change this perception to thinking and believing that the hardships have occurred to strengthen you. This mindset helps you to deal successfully with your hardships. For more about it, read this article.

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By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye- Media, Empowerment& MBA.

Management and Journalism Professional/Consultant with a demonstrated history/experience of involvement in women’s empowerment, project/program management, peace-building/conflict transformation, training, public awareness campaigns, governance and budget transparency, advocacy, documentation, the broadcast media industry, and community justice, among others.

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He is skilled, among others, in English and French, Project& Program Management, Media Production, Peace-building, Leadership, Advocacy, and Kinyarwanda- English-French Translation, and Mind-Body Connection and its Link with Health through extensive reading and investigation about these two fields as well as Health Reporting and Communication. Strong management, media and communication professional with a Bachelor's and Master's focused in Journalism& Communication and MBA-Project Management respectively from University of Rwanda and Mount Kenya University.

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