Good News for a Good Price

It’s been a minute since I last wrote a gratitude-focused post. Not because I’m not grateful. Anything but. Every . . . single . . . day I think about how incredibly fortunate I am. My embarrassment of riches—monetary and nonmonetary alike—is just that: embarrassing.

But as I wrote earlier this year, 2020 has been a doozy. For everyone. All across the globe.

Some, like our family, have experienced only a minimal negative impact. Others—many, many others—have been nowhere near as lucky. Some lost loved ones. Some lost jobs. Some faced horrible violence. Some faced racism. Some lost relationships because of differing and fiercely held political beliefs. Some faced other challenges and tragedies untold. Some faced all of these things.

But the uncaring Earth shrugs at all this. It keeps turning.

A Daily dose

One of the many great podcasts that I regularly listen to is The New York Times‘ “The Daily.” The podcast is published (query: Are podcasts “published?” “Released?” What’s the right term?) Monday–Friday (Sorry Saturday and Sunday, you lose!). Each episode typically covers a timely topic of the day, includes a discussion between the host and one or more Times reporters covering the issue, and lasts about 30 minutes.

No surprise, this year’s shows have trended . . . ummmmm . . . negative and depressing. Because 2020.

But the December 23, 2020, episode of “The Daily” was titled “The Year in Good News.” And you know what, Dear Reader? It covered nothing but good news stories from 2020. I knowwwww! I was surprised too! Who’d have guessed that from the episode title!

And maybe not the good news stories you’d expect. Or at least that I expected. Namely, stories that made mainstream headlines. Or featuring famous people. Or about big scientific breakthroughs and the like.

Rather, this episode featured stories that came from far and wide, from dozens of “regular” people. People generally unknown outside their own circles.

And it was absolutely wonderful.

Small but mighty

Put another way, these were small stories. But even a small story can have a seismic effect on the person who experienced it. And others close to the person and/or impacted by the events of the story, too. These stories did those things.

If you haven’t listened to the podcast, go ahead and do so. . . . No, I’m serious. Do it now. . . . Yes, right now. I’ll wait.

Ahh, thank you. It was pretty good, amiright?!

But more than being great stories (actually, maybe integral to them being great) these vignettes demonstrated that humans share similar thoughts as to what’s most important in life. And as it so happens, many of those things either cost not one dime or are relatively cheap. Some can even positively and dramatically impact the bottom line.

Skeptical? Here’s a list of just some of the “good news” that people shared:

• A listener got a job teaching English in Bali
• A listener finished knitting a scarf that she’d started on five years ago
• A listener took up the trumpet
• A listener got her dream job as a contact tracer
• A listener started making art, just for fun
• A listener’s clothing store in Puerto Rico flourished because much of the competition left the island
• A listener got really good at poaching eggs
• A listener rode his bicycle every day, and is closing in on 8,000 miles of riding for the year
• A listener successfully battled an eating disorder, and found support from many people
• A listener’s MRI showed that her brain tumor didn’t return
• A listener overcame depression
• A listener started seeing a therapist
• A listener stopped stressful work travel
• A listener’s 7-year-old son overcame a major illness and is thriving
• Several listeners fell in love
• Several listeners got engaged
• Several listeners conceived a child
• Several listeners had a baby
• A listener’s parakeet-of-a-certain-age had babies
• A listener’s toddler started walking
• A listener developed a strong(er) relationship with her daughter
• A listener renewed her relationship with her long-estranged daughter
• A listener’s physically disabled son learned how to ride a bike
• A listener got a cat
• A listener got to experience a bubble with friends/neighbors
• After buying a ping-pong table, a listener’s dad discovered that his elderly mother plays ping-pong and they’ve played together frequently ever since
• A listener started playing violin (in public) with a neighbor, with whom she became friends
• Several listeners expressed gratitude for the support that they’ve received from family and friends
• Several listeners expressed general, but immense, gratitude

Leveraged buy, out

You’ll notice that not on this list are things like:

• A listener bought an expensive car [a depreciating asset that the listener would be making monthly payments on for years]
• A listener bought a far-too-big-for-his/her-needs McMansion [that might have eaten up the listener’s emergency fund and would cost the listener an eyebrow-raising sum in mortgage payments alone, and that the listener likely would have to spend a lot of money to furnish]
• A listener bought/completed a major upgrade to the kitchen [which the listener might never/seldom use]
• A listener ate out a lot [and had a ton of mediocre food, the details of which he or she can’t remember]
• A listener bought a ton of clothes [a lot of which might be gathering dust in the back of the listener’s closet]
• A listener bought an expensive piece of exercise equipment [which set the listener back a few grand and which the listener has since found that he or she doesn’t use much]

The main difference between the actual and pretend lists, of course, is that the latter comprises “I boughts,” while the former includes only a few of those items. And those that the real list does include either didn’t cost too much (e.g. ping-pong table), or are going toward things like resolving a challenge or accomplishing something (e.g. therapy sessions, taking up the trumpet).

Yet other items (e.g. having/had a baby, getting a cat) are things that should enrich the lives of the listeners. Should.

Master mind(fulness)

I think that most people would benefit from a lot more mindfulness. There’s nothing per se wrong with getting the expensive car, McMansion, or meals out. But based on the stories related in the podcast, it sure does seem that what truly brings people real and great joy differs markedly from what they spend their money on.

Better to align one’s spending and actual priorities. Not only is that likely to lower one’s expenses, but it should free up money to allow for things like: spending more money and/or time on one’s priorities (or a greater number of priorities), or saving/investing money to increase financial security.

As I’ve written on this blog, I have been incredibly optimistic during the turmoil of 2020. I hope that if the events of this past year do anything, they move us to become more mindful, better people.

And in the end . . .

Dear Reader, I wish you only the happiest, healthiest 2021. And although this New Year’s Eve is likely to be much more subdued and less fun than normal for some, maybe you’ll be able to do it up big time later in the year, like accountants do.