IT'S TIME FOR BOOMERS TO HIT THE RESET BUTTON

In a recent post I made the obvious point that these are tough times for Boomers. We have far less in our bank accounts, 401ks, IRA’s and piggy banks than we did last year and there is there is no one who can predict with any certitude when the hemorrhaging will stop! Given this stark reality we can become passive victims and wring our hands or we can hit the reset button and change the circumstances of our lives. I suggest the latter. We have to reset our focus from doing more to being more. We have to reset our value system. And, we have to reset our expectations.

One of the hallmarks of our Boomer generation was the idea if we worked hard we could have it all. This was driven by the belief that our self worth was based on achieving the Good Life as measured by the money we possessed, the houses we lived in, the cars we owned, the vacations we took, the youthful countenance we preserved, the schools our kids attended, the status and power we enjoyed, and much more. The drive to acquire these accouterments of the Good Life was fueled in great part by the advertising/marketing/ mass media complex which bombarded us with messages reinforcing the idea that doing more would lead us to having more and then being more. They did their job so well that millions of us funded our Good Life on a mountain of debt that many now believe got us into the pickle we’re in. What is ironic, as mentioned in an earlier post, the evidence suggests achieving the Good Life made us no happier because we were on a hedonic treadmill and couldn’t get off. Now we are forced to at least slow the treadmill down or get off completely. To do this we will have to reset how we measure our self worth.

One measure of our self worth resides in our ability to act out our lives consistent with our values and beliefs. This is what being more is about. Shakespeare put it best saying, to thine own self be true. Values are the beliefs we hold about what is good and true and should be the foundation upon which we think, act and behave no matter the circumstances. Take Lillian Hellman, the writer, for example, who when called to testify and rat out her friends during the McCarthy hearings refused to do so saying “I will not cut my conscience to fit today’s fashions.” She lived her values. Summing up the importance of values and beliefs one writer said, “How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to know what really matters most.” Lillian Hellman knew the answer.

What should matter most to us at a time like this? A look back into our history gives us a clue. When the early settlers pushed West and faced hardship beyond anything we’re currently experiencing they adapted and survived by embracing such values as trustworthiness, frugality, integrity, hard work, self reliance, inventiveness, risk taking, community, sharing, belief in God. Had these values operated in contemporary culture life would be very different. We’d undoubtedly have had less stuff but gained a greater sense of well-being. As you ponder your circumstances is it time to do a value check? What do you believe? What is good and true? Is it time to hit the reset button on your value system?

I remember during the early days of Nixon’s administration some one said it was time to stem the tide of rising expectations. Although they were referring to the expectations of the underclass—Nixon and his henchmen wanted to cut back on entitlement spending, I believe we need to apply the concept to ourselves and reset our once rising expectations about how we spend money and what we get in return. One way to escape the cycle of conspicuous consumption and get off the hedonic treadmill is to reject fads, fashion, the latest technology, bells and whistles we don’t need on the cars and PC’s we purchase, professional services we no longer need—start with elaborate financial plans, expensive resort vacations and a host of other considered purchases. In the new world, less really will be more. We should demand quality, durability and value for money from whomever we do business with and boycott those who continue to exist in the conspicuous consumption marketplace believing as one ad proclaimed, image is everything! We know better.

One last word, as I mentioned in an earlier paragraph, one of the basic values this country was founded on is belief in God. I am a person of faith and initially believed that a blog helping Boomers navigate their way through their Second Half shouldn’t have spiritual or religious overtones for fear of turning off people who may not share my beliefs. As I was editing the first draft of this post and thinking about my personal response to having less money and diminished expectations about living the Good Life I realized it was impossible for me to leave God out of the equation. I offer no apologies. You see I believe God is trying to get our attention. He warns us throughout the Bible that if we worship money and make it our God instead of Him it will destroy us not physically but spiritually. St. Paul in one of his epistles warns us to keep our lives free from the love of money. Having or accumulating money is not in itself wrong. What is wrong is making it our God, the thing that we spend most of out time thinking and worrying about. I believe God is quite clear that we are called to love Him and love our neighbor. He isn’t calling us to love money and love things. If we keep this in mind this may be the best reset of all.