And this is why I am (irritatingly, Pollyannaishly) glad that I have earned a pittance over the past few years, because now I know how little I can live on and how earning the national average would feel like luxury.
A lot of this is, I think, about expectations & how you set them or allow them to be set around you. Ten years ago I was doing a self-funded MPhil and surviving on next to no money (enough so that it was genuinely stressful & contributed to my bout of situational depression, so that is kind of my lower limit for such things; but I did get by). Three years ago I was earning over three times that (which, ahem, was still not a *lot*, but comfortable!), and at that time I was thinking about going part-time and trying to work out how much I could 'afford' to lose in earnings, and unconvinced about whether it was feasible. Then I quit my job to do a bit of travelling, earnt not-very-much again for 10 month, and came back with the attitude that actually I *can* get by on not-much-at-all, and I'd rather have the time than the money. (So now I do a little bit of freelance writing and spend the rest of the time on Other Stuff.)
But the thing is, I don't think all that much *changed* between 10 yrs ago (when my 7-yrs-later salary would have seemed ludicrously extravagant), 3 yrs ago (when it just seemed comfortable, and not *much* more than I 'needed'), and now (when it's back to seeming quite extravagant :) ). I just got used to the things that go along with each of those states, and that became 'normal'. So it's partly security, and partly spending-to-what's-available & not necessarily seeing which parts of that are more optional.
What your friends are doing can have an impact, too -- the times when I do feel 'poor' currently are when I am out with mates who don't need to keep an eye on what the drinks are costing. And since most of my friends work full-time in reasonable jobs, this is most people I hang out with. Other than the anarchist activist types :)
(Then I remind myself that *I* can go sit in the park in the sunshine today if I want to, & I stop feeling poor.)
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Date: 2010-05-21 09:36 am (UTC)A lot of this is, I think, about expectations & how you set them or allow them to be set around you. Ten years ago I was doing a self-funded MPhil and surviving on next to no money (enough so that it was genuinely stressful & contributed to my bout of situational depression, so that is kind of my lower limit for such things; but I did get by). Three years ago I was earning over three times that (which, ahem, was still not a *lot*, but comfortable!), and at that time I was thinking about going part-time and trying to work out how much I could 'afford' to lose in earnings, and unconvinced about whether it was feasible. Then I quit my job to do a bit of travelling, earnt not-very-much again for 10 month, and came back with the attitude that actually I *can* get by on not-much-at-all, and I'd rather have the time than the money. (So now I do a little bit of freelance writing and spend the rest of the time on Other Stuff.)
But the thing is, I don't think all that much *changed* between 10 yrs ago (when my 7-yrs-later salary would have seemed ludicrously extravagant), 3 yrs ago (when it just seemed comfortable, and not *much* more than I 'needed'), and now (when it's back to seeming quite extravagant :) ). I just got used to the things that go along with each of those states, and that became 'normal'. So it's partly security, and partly spending-to-what's-available & not necessarily seeing which parts of that are more optional.
What your friends are doing can have an impact, too -- the times when I do feel 'poor' currently are when I am out with mates who don't need to keep an eye on what the drinks are costing. And since most of my friends work full-time in reasonable jobs, this is most people I hang out with. Other than the anarchist activist types :)
(Then I remind myself that *I* can go sit in the park in the sunshine today if I want to, & I stop feeling poor.)