In our life right now we have to live on a pretty strict budget. This requires me walking through the grocery store with a pen, writing down exactly how much everything costs before I get to the cash register in order to make sure I have enough money to pay for it all.
It's kind of a pain.
But I can tell you what would be a bigger pain...not being able to pay for it.
Today I am thankful that I have enough money to feed my family.
Sure we can only eat meat a limited number of times a week, and I won't be coming home with steak anytime soon, but I am not worried about how I'm going to feed us. I'm not worried about where our next meal will come from, or how I'll be able to pay for it.
I think sometimes as humans we have to be put in less-than-ideal situations so that we can understand what we actual have.
On the outside it would be obvious that we have a lot less than we did three years ago.
But for some reason I feel very rich.
The Year of Gratitude
It's kind of a pain.
But I can tell you what would be a bigger pain...not being able to pay for it.
Today I am thankful that I have enough money to feed my family.
Sure we can only eat meat a limited number of times a week, and I won't be coming home with steak anytime soon, but I am not worried about how I'm going to feed us. I'm not worried about where our next meal will come from, or how I'll be able to pay for it.
I think sometimes as humans we have to be put in less-than-ideal situations so that we can understand what we actual have.
On the outside it would be obvious that we have a lot less than we did three years ago.
But for some reason I feel very rich.
The Year of Gratitude
3 comments:
I think understanding what "enough" means is a challenge for most of the Western cultures these days. I've often thought that when my parents were growing up (and especially when my grandparents were!) at least here in Finland people would've considered themselves middleclass if they lived in decent housing, had work and could provide food and clean and tidy clothing for the family. Now there seems to be an ideal of having some money left over to DO things, buy things etc. Why is that? Why isn't our standard of "enough" set a little lower? At least for someone living on a middle class income being happier with a little less would allow a less stressful lifestyle: less stuff -> less cleaning up, need for less money -> no need to work full time etc.
I'm working full time for the first time in my life. After paying rent there is a huge (at least from the student/volunteer perspective) sum left on my back account each month. However, I do find working 5-days a week quite stressful as there's very little time to spend meeting friends, doing things in the weekday evenings after spending 45min in the traffic jam to get home from the office and a big chunk of the 48h weekend is consumed sleeping in.
I'm dreaming of being able to work part time in the future, still having the magical "enough" to cover everything.
And about the meat eating - the climate is just thankful for a less carbondioxide heavy diet :)
tytti
@Anonymous
Thanks Tytti. I have to admit, the advantage of working part-time and not being as stressed or busy definitely outweighs having extra money. Unfortunately, until very recently in the U.S. you had to work full-time or be married to someone who worked full-time in order to have affordable health insurance. Most people couldn't afford health insurance on their own if they just worked part-time and businesses didn't have to provide it for their employees. This really fosters an environment of working long hours. It's interesting to hear how other cultures work though.
And I don't miss the meat. :)
Enough! I am stealing that word...hopefully with permission ;). I just want to shout "amen". I always tell the kids in my life to pay attention to the magazine covers from Hollywood. Have you ever seen more money...more stuff...or more misery? Great post!
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