What’s some good news from the past week or two in your life? It doesn’t have to be big news. Have you had a memorable meal with loved ones? Celebrated a milestone? Read a good book?
We think that the practice of appreciating the good things is essential when we’re bombarded with news all day.
Experiment: If you click over to your news of choice, what’s the balance between good news and bad? We would bet that you find mostly negative headlines.
It’s easy to get sucked in by negativity. Bad news is everywhere. It’s logical to want to batten down the hatches and prepare for the worst… to give in to pessimism. But are we leaving enough room to appreciate what’s good right now?
Take the economy, for example. Inflation fell for the ninth month in a row in March. That still means prices are higher, but if we look deeper into the data, we’ve got some small victories to celebrate. Certain categories have even seen major price decreases over the last year.
Here’s another bright spot: despite the slowing economy, unemployment is still near historic lows, and more folks are reentering the workforce. Those are wins right now. Let’s take a moment to appreciate them.
We don’t know what will happen in the future. Many things will be different even a month from now. We’ve been caught in a maelstrom of uncertainty and scariness over the last few years, but we’re still here. We, as a society and collective economy, are resilient, and that’s fantastic news.
When the world looks uncertain and scary (and it often does), we recommend focusing on what’s good right now. Also, maintain an emphasis on your personal financial plan instead of the broad news cycle. Let us know how we can help along the way.
