It’s the holidays! This phrase excuses everything this time of year… road rage, arguments, inappropriate dress or behavior toward one another. Deep breathe “It’s ok, it’s the holidays, everything will settle down soon...” followed by another sigh. Every American is tiptoeing around the concept of currency.
Currency is a polite way of talking about personal havingness. Having a lot of parties together increases one’s social currency, having a lot of friends on social media to share activities with increases popular currency to the world wide web. Even the idea of giving is attached to currency, giving to support philanthropic initiatives typically results in a need for currency. How can we change the way we think about currency during the holidays? Currently the holidays just means to drain money and recoup losses in January. How can we have a happy holiday season and still “spend” in a way that feels more mutual?
Most transactions are mutual, pay with a commodity such as time or money and receive something in return., also typically time or money. The exchange is less exhaustive however during the holidays, transactions turn from a mutual exchange to a feeling of giving until resources are exhausted. This can only change if trend moves away from the idea of spending and moves toward the concept of mutual exchange. Mostly, it’s a change in our thinking, for example if one participates in a philanthropic initiative, giving with intention and only giving what feels comfortable can result in a change in how we view this action. If I don’t have cash to donate to a philanthropic event, I can give time and feel good about the donation of my time. Instead of spending on expensive holiday gifts for coworkers, friends and family – one can set intention around giving gifts and give a gift that feels more mutual, as in the gift giver feels they get something out of actually giving the gift and the gift receiver feels that what was given was thoughtful and not out of necessity of societal norms.
I definitely don’t have all the answers on changing the way the concept of currency works in a capitalistic society, especially during a time filled with tradition, guilt and cramming in all the family and friends you can possibly see in a couple of months! I do know that it’s time for change and with recent trend in needing more transparency, it feels only natural to take a look at how we treat currency in our day-to-day lives and how currency can trend in events to a brand new concept should we let it transform. Seems the real trend here is taking a look at mutual exchange! Getting more bang for our buck will result in all parties not settling for less than feeling satisfied with all or any transactions.