How quickly our perspectives change
We went to Hawaii a few years ago, and of course we brought our cameras with us. Since I planned on doing a kiteboarding shoot while I was there, I needed to make sure my camera could handle getting wet.
It turned out that getting a special case for my DSLR was prohibitively expensive for the amount of use it would get, so I got a soft case instead that would allow me to go maybe 10 feet under water with it.
I figured that would be fine — it would handle the kiteboarding shots on the surface, and I could take it snorkeling with me as well. (And it did work fine.)
Fast forward to the present, where my husband and I now have our scuba certifications.
I passed a display in Costco recently that said “Waterproof camera!”. I thought it would be fun to get a little point and shoot camera to slip into my pocket while scuba diving, so I stopped to check it out.
“Go up to 10 feet underwater!” said the box.
“Pfft,” I thought. “That’s ridiculous. 10 feet is nothing.”
One scuba class, and my perspective had completely changed. 10 feet was no longer adequate or even deep to bring a camera. Suddenly it was “nothing”.
The same thing happens in a lot of areas of our life. For example, go out to eat every day (or even every week) and it’s no longer a special occasion. Suddenly it’s just normal, or not even adequate any longer.
This is lifestyle inflation, one thing that makes it easy to get into slip thoughtlessly toward trouble with money. It takes more extravagant items, and more money, to make something special or even just good enough.
It pays to be aware of what you’re doing, and how small daily decisions can impact your finances. Sometimes just taking a step back and saying to yourself that no, ten feet is NOT nothing can make a difference by causing you to look at what you already have afresh.