We recently learnt that a 33 yr old man we know died of heart attack! He is survived by his young wife, pretty toddler and unborn child! It broke my heart to hear this news and I couldn't sleep for it! So the geek and I got thinking! Why is this happening to our generation? Why when we have made such progress on all fronts, longevity is now becoming an issue? And here is what we think!
We are a generation of over-achievers. Whatever we do, we seem to want more! Our needs and wants have grown multifold. We want big homes and automobiles. We want to travel and see places! We want to dress up and look good, we buy more clothes and shoes. We want to explore our palates and eat out. We want to party and make merry. We are not afraid to take risks and we do that over and over again financially. What we are really doing is hedging on our future! We hedge on our ability to earn and earn more in the future. So our present is filled with regrets about the past and worries about the future!
The previous generation saved up before they bought a home! But we are risk takers and go-getters.And guess what the banks, the country and the whole generation is with us on this. Success and Progress is important to us and we judge each other's and our own success by the amount of money we make and luxuries we afford! We have the need to do well at work. And with the sheer number of resources available today job security is unheard off. So we just work harder and harder and harder!
Our kids are our little clones. They run from one activity to another. They perform exceptionally at school, learn an art and play 10 different sports. Now this is a good thing. But this means everyone is always running to the next best thing! Before 30 and 35 this generation has done more than the previous generation did in multiple lifetimes. So naturally our stress levels are much higher!
Now I do not sit on a high horse and point fingers. I am part of this generation and very much in the core of the issue. So what do we do now? It is when we see a stark reminder like what we encountered that we start thinking. Where is contentment? Is it in our next pay check, next vacation or next pair of shoes? Or is it sitting quietly there in a corner of our head waiting for us to stop running and pay notice? I am stopping to look, are you?
We are a generation of over-achievers. Whatever we do, we seem to want more! Our needs and wants have grown multifold. We want big homes and automobiles. We want to travel and see places! We want to dress up and look good, we buy more clothes and shoes. We want to explore our palates and eat out. We want to party and make merry. We are not afraid to take risks and we do that over and over again financially. What we are really doing is hedging on our future! We hedge on our ability to earn and earn more in the future. So our present is filled with regrets about the past and worries about the future!
The previous generation saved up before they bought a home! But we are risk takers and go-getters.And guess what the banks, the country and the whole generation is with us on this. Success and Progress is important to us and we judge each other's and our own success by the amount of money we make and luxuries we afford! We have the need to do well at work. And with the sheer number of resources available today job security is unheard off. So we just work harder and harder and harder!
Our kids are our little clones. They run from one activity to another. They perform exceptionally at school, learn an art and play 10 different sports. Now this is a good thing. But this means everyone is always running to the next best thing! Before 30 and 35 this generation has done more than the previous generation did in multiple lifetimes. So naturally our stress levels are much higher!
Now I do not sit on a high horse and point fingers. I am part of this generation and very much in the core of the issue. So what do we do now? It is when we see a stark reminder like what we encountered that we start thinking. Where is contentment? Is it in our next pay check, next vacation or next pair of shoes? Or is it sitting quietly there in a corner of our head waiting for us to stop running and pay notice? I am stopping to look, are you?
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