I wrote a post earlier with a line that I would add some context to it a little. The post was about making a philosophical choice on whether to be a fart in the wind, or a piss in a stream. I chose piss, my wife adamantly chose fart.
I know. What a weird start to a post, but if you follow that link above, it will make more sense.
Without going into too much detail, how I see it is the fart is directionless and at the mercy of the wind. It doesn't make any decision on where it will go and never need commit. The piss in the stream is a choice to choose a direction and take a path that could lead to something larger.
So, some context and application through an example.
This morning my wife was complaining about her quality of sleep, as she kept waking up during the night with some level of anxiety. The cause of the stress is our financial situation, as the raising electricity prices have her worried and she is concerned that we aren't going to be able to cover all of our various costs and obligations in the coming months.
I completely understand her worry, as lack of money has also been one of the largest stresses in my own life throughout the years, as on top of all of the health and various issues I have had since a kid, monetary scarcity has been a major factor. Being sick sucks. Being sick and poor sucks even more.
And I asked my wife what has been the major cause of her stress over the years and it too was when she had money issues, but, she is a fart on the wind. So instead of finding the root cause, she stopped at identifying the symptom of her stress, without digging any deeper. And, this means that she never took any steps to discover if she could do anything to affect her situation and has actively chosen not to learn about her personal finance. The thing that not only brings her the most worry, but also *affects her life positively in many ways, as it allows for holidays and new shoes, as well as not needing to worry about paying the bills or, which brand of cheese to buy.
And, I think that this is typical behavior for farts, as it shows an unwillingness to take responsibility for personal conditions and instead, leaves it up to the wind as to how things are going to go. Like everyone, they feel their experience impacting on them, but don't want to make the decision to change their behavior, as that would mean that they would have to take ownership of their financial outcomes.
I would suspect, that the majority of people who think about the future often would choose to be the piss, which includes investors. Investing requires looking at where we were, where we are now, and then predicting where we are going to be in the future, making a decision and a commitment on what is going to get the capital, under the expectation that in some period of time, there will be a positive ROI. However, as we know, the results aren't always positive and instead of reaching the ocean of wealth, the flow can end up stagnating in a pool until it evaporates.
Those that just float through life however, tend to not be the investor types, as they are more concerned with the present moment conditions, which is what has my wife stressed. Yes, she is worried about the next few months, but if she had had some economic foresight (or listened to me sometimes), she would have seen this coming and would have at least been emotionally prepared. However, that emotional and mental position has to be hers to be practical, I can't give her that perspective.
All I can do is provide enough money so that she doesn't have to worry, which I clearly haven't, but I am not concerned like her, because I have an understanding of our actual position and what is possible if under too much duress. I don't plan on having to make decisions under duress, so I have been planning ahead so, I have plans in place through various scenarios. This doesn't change conditions, but it does mean that I can sleep well at night.
Now, over the last six years I have been trying to get my wife to increase her financial literacy, as if she did, it would also take a lot of stress off of me in terms of staying abreast of the situation. I don't expect her to be interested in it, but I see financial hygiene like brushing teeth - no one really likes to do it, but it is important for hygiene and improves general experience in life. She doesn't have to be interested in it, but if she is interested in improving her experience, she has to do it.
As I see it, we all have to do it.
We can't complain about the economy or our financial situation if we don't have a good understanding of why we are where we are. Yet, this is the norm, where people can be suffering but are unable (or unwilling) to acknowledge the part they play in their position, because they can't read the patterns or ramifications of their own actions. I know for example that my poor financial situation has been heavily impacted over the years by chronic illness, but this doesn't mean I couldn't have done various things to improve it, or even become quite well off. Most of my life though, I avoided really learning about personal finance, even though I studied a bit of economics at university.
I was a fart.
But, over the last decade or so I have been slowly concentrating myself into a direction and pouring myself into the river in an attempt to get somewhere different, rather than floating through life hoping for miracles. This doesn't guarantee success, but if I do end up failing catastrophically, I can have the sense that at least I tried, and this is where the journey matters.
Very little is in our direct control, so blaming ourselves doesn't work. However, that also means that very little is in the control of others too, so blaming them is equally silly. Yet, this doesn't mean we aren't influencing the outcomes and this doesn't mean we are pushing them in the right direction, it just means that we can affect them. Learning a little can perhaps help us nudge them more toward where we want to go.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]