The Untethered Lifestyle

Yes, the U.S. is very possibly in a recession. But it doesn’t have to be personal. I certainly don’t intend to have one.

A recession is defined as “a period of general economic decline; specifically, a decline in GDP for two or more consecutive quarters.”

But when the country enters a recession, does that dictate that I enter one personally? Am I required to suffer declines for two consecutive quarters in my personal income just because the national economy does? What economic law says that I am required to restrict implementation of any new ideas that may contribute to the economic growth of myself and my family over the next two quarters?

Let the whiners take recession personally; they are at the mercy of the larger economy because they choose to be. They passively ride the economic waves while refusing to believe in the existence of oars–when people like you and me use them every day.

Turn off the television and listen up: the U.S. enjoys a $14 trillion economy. If it drops to $13 trillion and you need $200,000 to support your fully mobile, philanthropic, untethered lifestyle, that’s 0.000001538% of the total economy. You only need to creatively bring 0.000001538% of total economic value to the table to dip out your desired share. Is that unreasonable? And if you want to even it up next year and dip out 0.000002%, you’ll wind up at $260,000.

So if our economy shrinks, don’t take it personally.