Be grateful of inflation. High prices can help you save money and lose fat. Inflation can be your ally against credit card debt and belly fat. Almost every American wants to reduce debt and lose weight. Credit card debt and obesity are at record highs. Low prices drove Americans to rampant consumerism. High prices can be a blessing in disguise if they can help you change your behavior. What do you think?
Slap is food for thought. Carryout at TakeSlap.com
Shop until you drop. Eat until you drop dead.
We love shopping until we drop. We love eating until we're about to explode. It's easy to get hooked on consumerism. It's pleasurable and makes us feel good. Cheap prices are enablers of consumerism. Inflation can serve as an intervention. Inflation can help you kick the habit of overconsumption.
No pain, no gain. It will be painful to quit overspending and overeating. They are part of our culture. Every day we are looking for things to buy and things to devour. Our houses get full of junk that we either donate or pay to store. Our bodies get full of fat that we can't donate and must store and carry around. Overconsumption is killing us financially and biologically.
Houston, we've got a problem.
The first step to fix a problem is to identify it. We must realize that we have a problem if we want to solve it. After identifying a problem, we can identify causes or at least develop hypotheses of potential causes. From there, we can experiment with corrective action to resolve the problem. Finally, we can measure results to see is the corrective action worked or not.
If you are broke and fat, you have two problems. One is a financial problem and the other is a health problem. Both problems are tied to overconsumption. If you are overweight, you are overeating. If you are broke, you are overspending--and you are most likely under earning also.
Overeating, overspending, under earning
Low prices can make the overconsumption problem worse. Anecdotally, we alll see people at Walmart overspending by filling the shopping cart with cheap stuff. The same happens at Amazon and most other low priced retailers. However, when you walk by luxury stores with oligarchic prices, most people are window shopping without spending a penny.
People get hooked on consumerism and over eating because they are pleasurable activities. It is not your fault. All living organisms on planet Earth survive by seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. All your ancestors survived following the pain / pleasure programming of life. Therefore, the programming survived in you.
Pain and pleasure habits
Your pain / pleasure connections make you or break you. The actions that you repeat in response to your pain / pleasure connections become your habits. Some habits edify you. Those are called virtues. Some habits destroy you. Those are called vices. The brain gets habituated to either virtues or vices just as easily. The hack is to replace vices with virtues by adjusting your pain / pleasure mental associations.
To lose weight, you must shift your pain / pleasure mental associations. You have to associate the pain of mild hunger with the mental pleasure of improving yourself. You have to associate the moderate pain of good exercise with the mental pleasure of improving yourself.
To make more money and to spend less, you have to adjust your pain / pleasure mental associations. You have to associate wasting money with the mental pain of feeling like a loser. You have to associate becoming a better employee or a better entrepreneur with the mental pleasure of feeling like a winner.
Fairy Tales
Of course, you may prefer a fairy tale life where you can eat as much as you want every day without becoming obese and losing your health. You may prefer a life where you can spend more money than you earn without going broke. Unfortunately, that will not happen. At least not on this planet and this universe. It may be better to wake up and realize that something's gotta give. Take action to solve your problems.
In the meantime, realize that inflation is not as bad as groupthink makes you believe. The silver lining of high consumer prices is that they can help you consume less. If you are like 90% of Americans, you will be better off consuming less. High prices can help you waste less, eat less, and produce more. High prices can motivate you to consume less and produce more. It can be "painful", but it would be worth it.
Food for thought. What do you think?
Carryout at TakeSlap.com
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