A Lottery win can be scary and unsettling
What are we afraid of in life? Spiders? The dark? Unexplained noises in the attic or basement? Food that you have no clue what it contains? That long-forgotten container in the fridge that now houses some furry creature? Sure, all that and more can scare the Dickens out of us. Many things scare us, from the unknown to primal phobias, up to not knowing what life has laid out for us in the next half hour. But one thing that can really scare the willies out of someone is winning the lottery jackpot and becoming an instant lottery millionaire.
A Big Life Change
Even though players fantasize about winning the lottery and having all that money, it is their fantasy happening as they think it should or will. We know our chances of winning are extremely slim, but we still think about how excited we will be when we win.
More realistically, when a person suddenly discovers that they have won the jackpot, they are more likely to pee and poop themselves rather than jump up and down in ecstatic joyfulness. As we’ve seen in movies, the characters’ fantasy reactions never match the actual real-life play-out of a situation.
The news of winning the jackpot hits the brain immediately and several things can happen. The winner might not believe what happened and go into denial. They may instantly worry about how they are going to invest the winnings or even if they should put it into the bank or under their mattress. They go into shock, become disoriented or confused, and some might suffer a serious medical event.
Others might simply remain calm and collected. But in either case, both types of winners are scared because their far-off fantasy has become instant reality and they panic and get into a reaction of fright and fear even though they may be crying like a baby or smiling and laughing like nothing has happened.
Eventually though, there is both total fright and fantastic release at the same time. There is the realization that the ticket needs to be cashed in and the fact that you are now millions of dollars richer. So the first thing you need to do is to relax and try to calm down Nothing good will come from being frightened and in shock. Close your eyes and take deep breaths. Think about your next move which has nothing to do with what you want to do with the money.
You know that there is going to be a process to collect your millions. You need to get your ticket validated at a retailer. You then have to take the ticket to the main lottery office to present it. Then there is an interview or two to verify the ticket and prove you are the rightful owner of it. Then you will have to wait for the ticket to be declared a winner and the money moved over to your bank account.
And all this happens as you eagerly wait to get your jackpot. You will probably check your bank account every fifteen minutes to see if the money has been deposited yet.
Now that you have your jackpot money in the bank, it’s time to pay off bills and other debts. This can be very scary if you always seem to be behind on the bills. Being able to now keep up on them may make you still feel that you might get behind again. It will be a hard and scary transition from living pay cheque to pay cheque to being able to sit back, relax, and know you’ve got lots of money in the bank to cover all your expenses.
If you get scared and anxious after finding out you won the lottery jackpot, a good idea is, when the money goes into your account, contact the bank and meet with a financial planner to help put the winnings into perspective and get your money working for you. Investments will not only build up your principal into investment income, but having all your bills paid automatically and your money looked after for you will take a lot of weight off your shoulders and really bring down that scary feeling to a level you can manage.
Winning the lottery can be a sudden and overwhelming event that could put you into an anxiety-laced fear, but enlisting the help of others can turn that scary feeling into a fantastic experience.