This is probably the theme of this whole blog journey I'm embarking on for 2018 but I want to talk to you guys about it because this topic is important. The stripped down version of this is entitlement and the soaring mentality of it in today's culture.
The economy is increasingly tough. People are beyond frustrated. They're sick and tired of having the same paycheck of the same amount, shrink every couple of months as prices on everything around us consistently rise. If we have learned anything in our lifetime is that you cannot beat inflation. It is a battle which will always be won by the almighty dollar. People can hate the rich all day long and envy their success but it won't matter. Your noise does NOTHING. You can't change your circumstances if you don't change your circumstances. Life doesn't work that way. The longer you wait around or be reactive instead of proactive, the worse your situation will get. You'll slowly dip into the poverty range. Successful people beat the system, not curse it.
Of course life is unfair. DUH!! It always has been and always will be. Luck is not why it's unfair, why people have more success and money than others, and it's not what you should be counting on to pull you out of debt and a negative bank balance. You have to STOP THE MADNESS. What you're doing is not working. You have to do make an uncomfortable reality your new reality. You might have to live an "unconventional" life to get back to "normal", whatever it is to you.
Nowadays people have every excuse, not always realizing they're excuses, for why they can't move or live here or there. "The kids deserve a safe neighborhood and a backyard they can play in." Perhaps but you also have to get REAL. Is it a possibility right now? No? Then get it out of your head! Move on. While ever reasonable, true, and hopeful that is, reality has to come first. If you can't pay for that dream, plus food everything month, the bills, new clothes and stuff for school, gas, etc. then you don't deserve it yet. No one deserves anything. If you did, you'd have it. That's how reality works. You get what you've earned. Punching in a clock and working the hours you can get does not count as working hard or DESERVING anything. You have to go above and beyond to have an above and beyond lifestyle.
Why do you think the tiny house movement is so moving? That is the perfect example of getting uncomfortable and unconventional for the short term to greatly benefit in the long run. On TV people make it look fun and only a small sacrifice to have no bills and travel. In reality, people were running out of options. Most people don't want to put their family in a tiny box but are forced to in order to get out from under a burden of debt, negative cash flow, and starvation or losing the roof over the head. Would it be stressful? Sure. Would the kids hate it and you feel terrible? Of course. That's life. It's also an excellent lesson for them. Don't teach them how to live a life of roses on the outside and a life of financial and emotional despair on the inside by being where you can't afford and them seeing right through you and through the empty fridge. Don't show them how to mask their woes and complain about them. Show your kids how to strategize and rescue themselves even in the toughest of spots. Show them how life is tough and they can use it get tougher; tougher than the rough life.
Don't do what you think you deserve. Do what you know you NEED in order to survive. Bare bones living. If you have to live in a tiny house, mobile home, or crappy and tiny apartments in bad neighborhoods, then buck up and DO IT. Kids, single mom, single woman who gets home late at shady hours, OH WELL. Suck it up or make it happen so you don't have to. Kids will understand eventually and LEARN how to get out of debt, how to deal with struggle, how to make the tough choices in life, how to avoid hardships better and recover from them faster. Kids use their memories, good or bad, from their childhood and it's what forms them into wiser adults. They hopefully learn the money mistakes we made but only if we're HONEST about them and truthful that yes the economy sucks, but we also could have done this differently; OR, the depression hit hard and we'll have to live differently and maybe unpleasantly for a year or two but the sacrifices now will make us stronger, smarter, and better of a couple of years from now. Setbacks happen and it's how you regrow from them that matters. They need to learn this more than the cushy life you're trying to raise them in when it's putting more strain than economic benefit and you end up losing it anyway or meals are missed.
Live BELOW your means, not at them. That means having savings every month of $100 at least that you DON'T spend. That means renting less than what you think you can afford. That means maybe a two bedroom instead of 3, just for now to build an extra cushion. We didn't have our own rooms as kids for a long time. We had bunk beds, one toy chest for each of us of our toys, one room and bathroom to share, Christmas was on a smaller scale, and it was townhouse or condo living for a few years. Life isn't meant to be pretty and fit a picture or mold. It's meant to be done right whatever it looks like. Who cares what other people think or how they're living? It's not their business and their life isn't yours. You don't know the private things they did to get there and how, or if they're not in a bunch themselves. It doesn't matter. Focus on YOU and your family. Don't get obsessed with others and their cars or incomes. Get yours on track. Make heavy sacrifices. Live in an RV, work a second job overnight and only live on four hours sleep, take two jobs at less wages than your one as long as combined they make more. Do what you don't want to do. THAT is how success works and escaping the rat race is done. IT'S HARD. It gets easier too though but at different times for everyone.
Never for one second think you're too good to live in a mobile home, ugly apartment, tiny house, with your parents, scary neighborhoods, taking the bus or walking, selling your newer car to get an used one, whatever. Do what will save you the most money QUICK and do it. You'll get out from under much faster if you make tougher decisions and just get focused on getting money in the bank again. Even if changing jobs right now isn't an option, you're giving yourself viable options. They're not forever changes, just temporary solutions to fix the issues instead of band aids that fall off, and masking what is inevitably going to get WORSE if you don't get ahead of it. Take your entitlement however much or little, and SHOVE IT. Deserve nothing, strive for lifting yourself up from nothing.
Make choices that are tough, uncomfortable but necessary and get creative. Make some unconventional choices that aren't exactly pleasant but will also help you recoup and reset the hardships. That matters more than being in struggle and living a lie. Live in your truth and be truthful with your circumstances. Freedom only comes with significant change, sacrifice, hardship and overcoming, and open honesty.
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