I would like to stop hearing about the economy and possible/probable/current/impending recession, if you please.
Living in a small town where the economy is slow most of the time, it's easy to feel cut off from the rest of the country about things like the busting house market and such. We put our house on the market and sold it within 2-3 months this spring. Also, we sold it for nearly 2x what we bought it for just 3 years ago.
And my husband has been self-employed as a tile contractor for 3+ years here as well. There were certainly times that we started to talk about finding him a job with more reliable work & income, but mostly it served us quite well. There was the added factor of lack of jobs here - not due to any factories closing or lay-offs, but just b/c it's a small town and there are only so many possible employers no matter what your skill set.
And a great part-time job found me about a year and a half ago that I was able to do from home so I could still be here with my son. I only quit because I was 9 months pregnant and about to move across the country.
But I'm a faithful subscriber/reader of Newsweek and listener of NPR. Most of the time I'm grateful for them. When my most recent issue of Newsweek came and I saw the cover: "A Different Kind of RECESSION," I wanted to throw it away without reading it. Seems like every issue has had several comments about the economy and how things are slowing down and how bad it'll get before it gets better. Seems like there's also too much focus on the energy/oil/foreign dependence/environmental impact discussion as well, which gets equally discouraging to read about.
On the continuum of optimism to pessimism, I'd certainly fall more to the pessimists. I like to think of myself as a pragmatist, or a realist. Unfortunately, most of the time that results in pessimism. I don't need to read any more about the recession...especially as we're about to move back to one of the states that's been hit really hard by it.
Granted, we're not moving to the Detroit area or to look for jobs in the auto industry, which are the hardest hit. And because of the housing market being what it is, it's actually going to work in our favor if anything - so many houses are for sale (or in foreclosure) that we'll probably be able to buy a much nicer home than we otherwise could afford.
But I get paranoid about not finding jobs. And my body holds onto the stress I feel when I think about the economy. There's not-unfounded fear about being able to get a loan to buy a home again, even though we're leaving here much better off than we came.
I've noticed that, for the most part, people don't talk about what everyone's thinking about. With the exception of comments about the weather and the gas prices, people don't pass each other on the street talking about our oil dependence or the presidential election or the melting ice caps or the recession. Maybe we all share a collective spirit of denial, or maybe when we're in community we tend to try to be optimists even when we're pessimists while alone with our thoughts and magazines.
I've also noticed that, like with so many things, talking/acting/worrying about something will result in the manifestation of exactly that thing. I think people, as individuals but even more so in community, have so much more power than they realize to create a certain reality. When we moved here, we had no objective reasons to be optimistic about finding jobs or friends or a house, and yet everything worked out better than we could have ever expected. When I got pregnant (both times), we deliberately did NOT put any energy or attention into thinking what might go wrong, and I had two healthy, relatively easy pregnancies & births. When we started talking about looking to buy a home 3 1/2 years ago, we stayed positive in our expectations and found a really wonderful first home that we'll be a little sad to leave in two weeks. I could go on.
I'm not saying that anyone who has fears will automatically manifest negative results, or that our optimism actually caused the positive results we experienced, but I do think there's a power to the energy we put out. If for no other reason than because we see what we're looking for. If I expect positive, I'll see the good. If I fear the worst, I'll find it, like any other self-fulfilling-prophecy.
This brings me back to the recession discussion. The more the media injects fear into us through their coverage of our economic troubles as a country, the more they are assisting in the creation of that which they cover. The more that people read about the recession and depressed economy, the more we get depressed and act as though we are in a great Depression, and the more the economy is affected by our depression.
So I challenge the media to realize its power, and for individuals & communities to realize what we can manifest. I'm not a Pollyanna (although my best friend is), but I genuinely believe that a pragmatic/realistic approach is too cynical most of the time. We can create beauty and strength and abundance through our expectations of such. We WILL create depression and cynicism and a receding economy through our expectations as well.
So, Newsweek and NPR and all the rest that I don't read/hear but I know are out there preaching similar news: no more about the recession, if you please. Tell us what we are doing well, what we can do more of, how we're learning from our mistakes. Spin things to be true in a slightly more positive light. People are more motivated by humor and a positive approach than we are by bleakness and cynicism. Granted, fear works, but not in the ways you intend or with any lasting growth or improvement involved. Inform us, motivate us, tell us the state of things. But if you're going to spin it, and we all know you will because no one is impartial, spin it toward the light instead of the dark.
Do I sound naive? Call it the audacity of Hope...
Living in a small town where the economy is slow most of the time, it's easy to feel cut off from the rest of the country about things like the busting house market and such. We put our house on the market and sold it within 2-3 months this spring. Also, we sold it for nearly 2x what we bought it for just 3 years ago.
And my husband has been self-employed as a tile contractor for 3+ years here as well. There were certainly times that we started to talk about finding him a job with more reliable work & income, but mostly it served us quite well. There was the added factor of lack of jobs here - not due to any factories closing or lay-offs, but just b/c it's a small town and there are only so many possible employers no matter what your skill set.
And a great part-time job found me about a year and a half ago that I was able to do from home so I could still be here with my son. I only quit because I was 9 months pregnant and about to move across the country.
But I'm a faithful subscriber/reader of Newsweek and listener of NPR. Most of the time I'm grateful for them. When my most recent issue of Newsweek came and I saw the cover: "A Different Kind of RECESSION," I wanted to throw it away without reading it. Seems like every issue has had several comments about the economy and how things are slowing down and how bad it'll get before it gets better. Seems like there's also too much focus on the energy/oil/foreign dependence/environmental impact discussion as well, which gets equally discouraging to read about.
On the continuum of optimism to pessimism, I'd certainly fall more to the pessimists. I like to think of myself as a pragmatist, or a realist. Unfortunately, most of the time that results in pessimism. I don't need to read any more about the recession...especially as we're about to move back to one of the states that's been hit really hard by it.
Granted, we're not moving to the Detroit area or to look for jobs in the auto industry, which are the hardest hit. And because of the housing market being what it is, it's actually going to work in our favor if anything - so many houses are for sale (or in foreclosure) that we'll probably be able to buy a much nicer home than we otherwise could afford.
But I get paranoid about not finding jobs. And my body holds onto the stress I feel when I think about the economy. There's not-unfounded fear about being able to get a loan to buy a home again, even though we're leaving here much better off than we came.
I've noticed that, for the most part, people don't talk about what everyone's thinking about. With the exception of comments about the weather and the gas prices, people don't pass each other on the street talking about our oil dependence or the presidential election or the melting ice caps or the recession. Maybe we all share a collective spirit of denial, or maybe when we're in community we tend to try to be optimists even when we're pessimists while alone with our thoughts and magazines.
I've also noticed that, like with so many things, talking/acting/worrying about something will result in the manifestation of exactly that thing. I think people, as individuals but even more so in community, have so much more power than they realize to create a certain reality. When we moved here, we had no objective reasons to be optimistic about finding jobs or friends or a house, and yet everything worked out better than we could have ever expected. When I got pregnant (both times), we deliberately did NOT put any energy or attention into thinking what might go wrong, and I had two healthy, relatively easy pregnancies & births. When we started talking about looking to buy a home 3 1/2 years ago, we stayed positive in our expectations and found a really wonderful first home that we'll be a little sad to leave in two weeks. I could go on.
I'm not saying that anyone who has fears will automatically manifest negative results, or that our optimism actually caused the positive results we experienced, but I do think there's a power to the energy we put out. If for no other reason than because we see what we're looking for. If I expect positive, I'll see the good. If I fear the worst, I'll find it, like any other self-fulfilling-prophecy.
This brings me back to the recession discussion. The more the media injects fear into us through their coverage of our economic troubles as a country, the more they are assisting in the creation of that which they cover. The more that people read about the recession and depressed economy, the more we get depressed and act as though we are in a great Depression, and the more the economy is affected by our depression.
So I challenge the media to realize its power, and for individuals & communities to realize what we can manifest. I'm not a Pollyanna (although my best friend is), but I genuinely believe that a pragmatic/realistic approach is too cynical most of the time. We can create beauty and strength and abundance through our expectations of such. We WILL create depression and cynicism and a receding economy through our expectations as well.
So, Newsweek and NPR and all the rest that I don't read/hear but I know are out there preaching similar news: no more about the recession, if you please. Tell us what we are doing well, what we can do more of, how we're learning from our mistakes. Spin things to be true in a slightly more positive light. People are more motivated by humor and a positive approach than we are by bleakness and cynicism. Granted, fear works, but not in the ways you intend or with any lasting growth or improvement involved. Inform us, motivate us, tell us the state of things. But if you're going to spin it, and we all know you will because no one is impartial, spin it toward the light instead of the dark.
Do I sound naive? Call it the audacity of Hope...
