This world will make you crazy, if you don’t grab hold of yourself quickly. I say this because markets are always telling us what to buy, which in turn shapes our shopping/ financial habits, identity and vitality. If we are not being sold on a product, then we are being sold on how to live, sold on some ideal like happiness or sold on the need for something like mortgage services; as if one size fits all.
The end goal of buying into products and ideals; is supposedly to make us happy, healthy functioning members of society. It’s also supposed to make us a good team player but this isn’t always the case. We have been initiated into a game for which there is no way out. Oftentimes we are made to feel like hamsters on the wheel of consumption, which is an endless cycle. What we learn is that the urge to resist is fundamental.
Articles that offer up the type of life I should have make me skeptical. An example of this, is an article published by Citizens National Bank titled “Important Milestones You Should Reach by Age 40” that tells us we should have some idea of where our career is heading. My internal alarm goes off and I realize CNB is selling you on the notion that you’ll probably need something like investment services after this milestone has been met.
What I propose is that it’s next to impossible to forecast the direction of which your career is heading by age 40 due to a volatile job market. According to The Gig Economy by Diane Mulcahy, “The traditional full-time job is becoming the exception, not the rule. The idea of stable employment is a relic of the past.” As a result, we are learning to adapt to a new way of life; one that is deeply entrenched in change.
Going with uncertainty means going with the natural flow of life, which isn’t always linear; it’s full of twists and turns. This can often be better for our well-being. It’s important to adopt a more proactive approach to living. An example of this might include being on the lookout for that next hurdle in life; whatever it might be ie job change or job loss. If we don’t, we suffer for not seeing or adhering to the warning signs.
We’re reminded that it's will that makes us ultimately responsible for defining success on our own terms; not a checklist created by some entity like a banking institution, with their own internal motivations. We have the agency to decide what standard and whose standard of success we want to live up to or keep up with. By breaking out of the expectations imposed by society, we can live a more stress-free life.