| > What I mean by "live within your means" is to spend less than you earn. I see where you are coming from, I genuinely take it in good faith. There's just this constant pressure to be this or that at certain stages of our lives, especially in the asian culture I am part of. I've managed to avoid these all my life but lately I've been falling for it as well. > I have been in poverty in my life, and I feel fortunate that we were able to escape it. Genuinely happy to hear this. :) It gives a lot of hope. > I have my own theories, but I'd be happy to know yours It's a cultural thing, I have friends who haven't married yet because they feel they can't afford a family with their current circumstances. Here marriages are a family thing, so the parents need to approve. And no father or mother will send their daughter to such a person when they have more options available to them. You could live the frugal life or the glamorous instagram life people are brainwashed with. Everyone is running in a constant state of survive or die mentality because no one has a safety net to fall back to. I am not saying all are like that, there are independent strong women/men but they are dime a dozen. |
We are smarter than lemmings, we can see the danger, but we're also smart enough to convince ourselves that our eyes betray us there is no danger.
Marching forward while calling back for those behind to carry a rope, this is still the same madness, isn't it?