Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season, and are able to get a little break. For this week’s article, I wanted to talk about value, but more specifically how the monetary value of things has become so misconstrued.
The past couple weeks I have been to my fair share of holiday markets, and I’ve noticed a pattern in my behavior. I’d go to one of the stalls that intrigued me, and take a gander at the goods they were selling. In the sea of everything, I would find something that I really liked: a broach, a purse, a painting. I’d turn the item over and immediately my shoulders would slump down at the sight of the price. I could barely afford anything at the holiday markets, and it made me a little frustrated.
My initial, knee-jerk thoughts in response to the prices was “How could anyone justify selling something at this price”? Since then, I’ve realized how insensitive I was at the holiday markets. Some of these sellers spent hours making jewelry, crocheting bags, and coming up with their sales pitches. I’ve spent some time thinking, and I’ve noticed how I don’t understand the value of things anymore.
There was a gorgeous broach at one of the booths, but I was having trouble grappling with the price. The price of the broach wasn’t the problem, but the real problem was that the idea of saving up for something has become lost on us. It used to be common for people to put money aside for something they couldn’t afford. We have become such an impatient society that saving money for a good-quality item isn’t practiced anymore. When we see something that we like, we make choose one of two choices. We either buy it immediately or don’t even give it a second glance when the price isn’t to our liking.
People used to see things they liked in a store, and when they couldn’t afford it, they would wait until they could afford it. They’d take a portion of their paycheck or allowance and put it towards buying that item. Whatever happened to saving for a nice, good-quality item that will last years as supposed to writing off anything that’s out of our budget.
This mindset, found especially in the US, is the reason why a number of small businesses go under each year. No one wants to save up for a good quality item that seems a little pricey as opposed to a lesser quality item that is a lot cheaper.
I wish we all could go back to appreciating the act of saving up our money for something. The pleasure and pride we felt in ourselves for finally having enough money to buy the thing we really wanted. I really miss this feeling.
Anyways, I want you all to think about the last time you saved up for something. How did you feel when you were finally able to buy that item? I bet it felt wonderful and worth it.
Thank you all for reading this week’s article. I hope it made you all think. Make sure to subscribe to be notified of new posts. Stay sharp 😉