"Never enough..."
Published by Kristina & Breanne,
Posted by Kristina Smedley |
Have you ever gone to the grocery store when you were hungry?
Yeah, me too. And it’s always a mistake!
All I can think about is how hungry I am.
I end up buying all sorts of random things, especially things I can eat right away.
I often walk out of there without some key ingredient or without even thinking ahead about the next fews days.
Living with a scarcity mindset is much like this. The immediate concern is all we can think of, and longer term implications or the needs of others are not on our minds.
What’s a scarcity mindset?
Imagine a pie.
There are only a certain number of pieces of pie and once they’re gone, they’re gone.
SO, as you know from growing up with siblings, you have to make sure to grab your slice of pie before you miss out.
That’s a scarcity mindset. It is based in fear and is how MANY people live their lives.
Everything is a zero sum game.
There is never enough to go around, so we have to act fast and grab our share.
There’s never enough time, money, customers, opportunities, companionships… you name it!
Scarcity captures the mind.
It creates a tunnel vision where we can only focus on OUR immediate needs and desires (like being hungry in the grocery store).
With a scarcity mindset, we over-prioritize near term solutions at the expense of longer term opportunities.
Now, let’s go back to the grocery store… remember when all the toilet paper aisles were bare?! That was scarcity mindset at play.
"There won’t be enough to go around. I must grab mine now"...
With no concern for the amount being grabbed, if neighbors would be able to get some as well, or even if there was a true need for it... just grab it and go.
And that was just one action… buying toilet paper.
Imagine all the other actions being taken by the millions of people living from a scarcity mindset.
In my opinion, living from this vantage point is selfish, exhausting, and is the life of the Lesser Self.
It’s a sure fire way to end up in our Accidental Futures, where one day we look around and ask "How the heck did I end up here… broke, alone, tired, sad, and/or with regret."
The opportunity, then, is to choose to nurture an abundance mindset. To choose to see opportunity and possibility… rather than scarcity. It’s not always easy, but an abundance mindset can be fostered.
An abundance mindset is possible when we have strong self worth and security.
Breanne and I have been on a journey for many, many months to increase self-confidence and security in who we are and the value we offer the world (and probably years of individual work before we started on this together!).
Fostering an abundance mindset takes work, and I’m not going to lie and say there aren’t moments where I definitely approach things from a scarcity standpoint.
But overwhelmingly I see opportunity and possibility, plentiful for all… and I can’t even begin to tell you how much more freedom, love, and abundance there is in my life now as compared to before I started on this journey.
Like everything, it’s a choice.
It’s a choice to become more aware of the dominant mindsets that are ruling my/your life.
Then, it’s a choice to accept them and transform them if they’re no longer serving me/you.
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