If you haven’t been living under a rock or have been COMPLETELY insulated from the economy (including not bartering with others who engage in the economy) for the last year, you know we’ve been experiencing a bit of inflation. Even if you don’t really understand what “inflation” means technically speaking, no doubt you’ve noticed that food and household goods take up a bit more of your paycheck these days than before the onset of the pandemic 4 years ago. It’s one of the multiple ways we are all less secure than we were back then.
The objective measure of inflation in America is actually quite a bit LOWER than rates in other countries. Our inflation rate for the last year or two has never been particularly high, when compared with the contemporaneous rates around the world; it just feels terrible for those who were used to the low-inflation conditions of the last 20+ years prior.
It is the change in the inflation rate that is easily felt as a disconcerting emotional experience of loss, from which we struggle to move on. No doubt, this experience has been devastating to all those people at the bottom of the economic scale. People have lost their homes, their health, and their lives due to the stress, fear, anxiety, anger, and pain caused by inflation. But if that’s NOT you, check this out…
You are still OK. If you had to tighten your belt a bit over the last 12-18 months, that sucks and is probably a level of discomfort you aren’t used to. But you are doing fine. In fact, you have an obligation to grow from your discomfort and expand your mind a little bit and i know you can do it; I have faith in you. Your budget may be a little tighter than it was, but so many others are truly suffering. Can you really say you are struggling when you have a roof over your head, food on your table, and savings in the bank?
You need to reprioritize everything right now. You cannot be secure when your neighbors are suffering. There is only so much you can hoard to protect yourself from the desperate folks out there who need money just to survive when everyone has turned their backs on them.
If any good thing comes out of this comparatively gentle period of inflation in the US, it will be for those people of means to start caring about where and how they spend their money. I know I have become radically more intentional with my hard-earned dollars lately. As an example, I probably eat much less meat because it’s expensive to purchase, but what I do buy, I get from a local CSA that delivers to my house once a month. I also buy sausages from a local purveyor that also sources locally. Vegetables also come from a local farm delivery service and are seasonally appropriate for my area.
This is not at all intended to belittle anyone who can’t afford these sorts of things. I am very fortunate to be in the financial state I’m in and I would absolutely be ABLE to buy and consume a greater quantity of meat and veggies if I clipped coupons at the local supermarket, didn’t buy locally grown/raised or organic, and wasn’t concerned about the overall quality of the ingredients. But my food is important to me so I am making these expenses a priority. There is something that you can also be more intentional about and actually consume less of, too.
Inflation reminds us to keep an eye on that pocketbook and, if society is healthy, an opportunity for reconsideration and recalibration of where we spend our scarce personal resources to do more with less, not just for oneself, but also for all those around you.
Please remember to give charitably this season as well, if you are able. For anyone who has not experienced a financial setback or collapse of some sort in the last year, be extra generous to thank the universe for your good fortune out there when so many are fighting to stay alive.
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