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Debt Free Looks Like What?
by Myrna Giesbrecht
Description: Thoughts on what a life free from debt might look like.
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If you were debt free, what would you look like?
What does anyone who is debt free look like? If you think
about it for
a minute you're not likely to come up with a list of body types
and characteristics
but a list of material possessions. We've been conditioned from
the "fairy
tale" stage to believe that if you wear a crown, live in the
castle on
the hill and drive around in a horse drawn carriage, you don't
have money
worries.
Why is that? In today's society, the opposite is more likely
to be true.
Because someone has a high paying job, drives a new car and lives
in an
upper scale neighborhood, does not mean that they are debt free
(or even
rich).
Most of us are living with a false belief, a false paradigm.
We've been
trained to think that having material possessions equals lots of
money
and lots of money in turn equals freedom from debt when it is
totally possible
that possessions equals loans equals debt. It's a new way of
looking at
things. When you walk down the street and see that fancy high-end
car in
someone's driveway instead of thinking, "Boy, he must be loaded!"
you might
start thinking, "I wonder how much he owes on that baby?" When
that change
occurs, there's a certain satisfaction, almost righteous pride,
in driving
an average car you own outright versus one the bank owns more of.
The abdication of our right to choose has caused us as a
society to
move over the course of one generation from a people who lived
well and
within their means to a people who live beyond their means and
are both
financially and emotionally stressed. We've allowed continuous
advertising
to determine for us what quality of life is, what we must do,
where we
must live, what we must wear and what we must drive if we are to
be successful
and acceptable. We've been brainwashed to believe that who we are
and our
value as a human being is directly equal to the sum total of all
our possessions
whether or not we own them outright or borrowed the money to get
them.
With the belief that more is better, we have wholeheartedly
supported
the financiers who created the loans, overdrafts, credit cards,
lines of
credit and payment plans that make that lifestyle attainable--but
not livable.
Once in debt, we realize that we have signed our own ticket to
financial
hell and we begin to question the thought process that got us
there.
If you signed the ticket in, you can also sign the ticket out.
You can
be debt free. What does it take? That leads back to the original
question.
What does anyone who is debt free look like? If you look at their
personal
characteristics rather than their material possessions, you will
find enviable
traits including conscious choice, high emotional intelligence
and established
priority structures--all ingredients of critical thinking, a
skill that
can be learned and developed.
We're not talking about having blue eyes here! It isn't a case
of you
were born with thinking skills or you weren't. They're
learned as
a result of consequences, of maturity, and of choice. For
example, a small
child learns quite quickly that "hot" hurts. After that, whenever
they
are told that the plate, the stove, the fireplace, or whatever is
hot,
they don't touch it. It makes sense, seems almost natural and yet
this
thinking process takes a nose-dive in adolescence and seems never
to recover
in the majority of the population.
We become driven by our emotions, wants and desires. We
believe we have
a right to have it all now. We act quickly, defend our position
to the
death, refuse to consider alternatives and spend, spend, spend
without
thought of consequences. We don't realize that while our physical
bodies
mature naturally, our thinking processes may need help.
That's why statements like "one day sale" and "no money down,
no interest
and no payments until..." work on us. Advertising tells us that
if we want
to be successful, we must buy this particular product yet once
our emotions
drive us to go to the store to buy it, when we get there we find
we don't
have enough money. But, that's okay because there is a great
payment plan
available and for a low monthly payment of so many dollars per
month, if
we'll just sign here, it'll be delivered later this afternoon.
Instant
gratification! The underlying subliminal message is "and then
you'll really
be a somebody".
This example illustrates poor thinking skills. These kinds of
decisions
are impulsive and irrational. To develop good thinking skills,
you must
learn to analyze your options. For every action, there is a
reaction. In
the time between something happening to you and you reacting to
it, you
have a choice.
Unconscious choices are impulsive; conscious choices are
deliberate
and well thought out. In terms of being debt free, your actions
and spending
decisions should be based on well established goals over the long
term
and not immediate wants. The desire to accommodate immediate
wants is,
in most cases, the reason a debt problem exists in the first
place.
Advertising, peer pressure and the unrealistic expectations of
others
lose their impact once you begin making decisions utilizing good
thinking
skills. Instead of opting into payment plans, you may decide to
pay yourself
each month until you save up enough to make the purchase. You may
decide
that the desire for this product is a result of advertising and
not a real
need, therefore you don't want it after all.
Whatever you decide, the process of arriving at that decision
should
weigh the pro's and con's of the purchase, the impact it will
have on both
your financial and emotional situations and the value of it
towards attaining
your long term goals. If you don't need it, why buy it.
Reprinted with permission.
