Expenses are like problems, they never really go away and are always around the corner waiting for the right moment to show up.
In a way, expenses are a subset of problems and share many similarities.
I've heard this saying that you don't change by solving your problems; you solve your problems by changing.
This presumes that problems are more like an effect of underlying behavioral patterns instead of a cause in itself.
But the main subject here is change. Change in this context is a transformative process of self-awareness and intentional adaptation.
Sometimes, self-awareness is like a laser beam that you can shine on hidden patterns to dissolve them. It's much easier for me to solve internal conflicts when I illuminate the underlying triggers.
For example, indecisiveness is usually triggered by excessive options and the lack of informed discernment.
I think this aligns well with the concept of finding the root cause of whatever one is trying to solve.
Because this ensures that the problem is solved for good, which prevents quick fixes that create the bubble of short term solutions with long term consequences.
Change Isn’t A Strategy...
Now, if we substitute problems for expenses in the saying above. We get you don't change by solving your expenses; you solve your expenses by changing.
Of course, nothing about this new saying seems particularly revolutionary, especially at first glance.
But then, aren't expenses potentially an effect of personal values and unconscious spending habits instead of a cause in of itself?
You could also make the argument that financial patterns are deeply rooted in psychological and emotional landscapes, revealing more about our inner world than our bank statements.
However, this is only one aspect of it, in that there's also an external or almost objective aspect to expenses.
What I mean by that is our expenses are never truly individual, to a large extent.
Because they are woven into broader cultural narratives of success, belonging, and survival.
For example, survival can be more about maintaining a sense of psychological security and potential than just mere physical sustenance.
The Invisible Tax Of Belonging
And this sense of belonging will have us breaking the bank before breaking the invisible chains of social expectations.
In that sense, expenses also reflect the collective conditioning, societal expectations, and the complex economic ecosystems we navigate.
Unfortunately, this is something that we have less control on but what we can do from an individual perspective is solve for our ability to discern between essential and imposed financial narratives.
Speaking of abilities, I think it's in our inability to navigate economic systems consciously that has turned money into a language we’ve don't know how to speak fluently.
We parrot consumerist idioms like buy now, pay later, without questioning who wrote the script.
I think reframing expenses as choices when possible can be a great way to reclaim agency and reduce reinforcing the myth that financial freedom is primarily in earning more, and not wanting less.
The inverse could also true in that we pay for distractions to numb boredom or status symbols to quiet down insecurity.
To solve expenses, we must first become translators of these hidden narratives. That's where the change is.
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.