In the novel I’m writing, my heroine enters a restroom where she finds a dead body. She feels as though the world has tipped on its axis, plummeting her into a nightmare where her life will never be the same. Of course, that’s a novel, but in many ways, what we’re experiencing feels the same way.
The world has shifted; the days of extra money and easy living are gone, and most of us have added the stress of unemployment or job insecurity to our lives. We wonder about tomorrow; hope that we’ll be able to pay the bills; realize the mistakes we’ve made and decide to change our spending and saving habits. We hope that when all is said and done, we really won’t mind the changes we’re being forced to make in our lives.
Of course, what’s been dubbed “irrational exuberance” and permeated many of our lives is over. I look at the $700 drapes in my bedroom and know that I’ll never spend that sort of money on “window treatments” again.
In many ways, the financial shift is bringing me back to my roots. How I was raised. I’m watching the pennies, looking for the bargains, realizing that I really can live without a lot of the things that catch my eye. This newly discovered financial caution may not last. But the more frugal me doesn’t mind eating leftovers and pulling old clothes out of the closet. I don’t even mind finding bargains at Goodwill.
I just wonder if this is part of the adventure or the life that I will be living going forward.
© Judy Kane 2009
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