It’s Cool by the Pool – right? [COLUMN]

I had a few ideas for this column as long ago as Sunday, but emotionally I’m very inclined to answer the title question with a BIG FAT NO.

Although I often accuse the mainstream of a critical failure to deal with reality, I have to concede that over the past week I have watched 3 movies. It’s no secret – I prefer the world of movies and television to reality. That’s because reality is a lot more convoluted, a lot more grey and sometimes, often, a sad, nagging, biting, gnawing dog. It's not going away,and that gnawing, biting sensation is getting deeper, and bloodier.

You may not think reality is a big deal, in fact it's the biggest deal. When the media and leaders ask questions about where the economy is going, it affects you. it means you may or may not have a job in a few months. It has implications ranging from crime to whether you can continue to live in your house. It may mean you have to sell your possessions and try teaching English in Shanghai.
This question has EVERYTHING to do with reality: Was this the greatest sucker's rally in history/If not, is the recession over?

There's a also private reality that, truth be told, I'd rather not face.
Take the phone calls I’ve had from my father recently. He’s complaining because American Express are calling him around the clock. He’s checking whether I have been to see them, and helpfully provides a phone number and suggests I write them a letter etc. But the reason for this is not really to help me, it is simply so that his phone will stop ringing. There is no space in the conversation for any of the few incidentals I’ve requested over the past few weeks, from him, including the number of his attorney, simply for him to recommend good attorneys in Johannesburg – since mine is playing the game of ‘ignore him, then charge him for every phone call and get maximum salary, and finally, after being frogmarched to the courtroom, begin the proceedings’.
No I get the credit card company’s number. Lets face it, if I could just get to the point where I could sue for my lost deposit, that would eclipse the credit card debt. But that’s not important. I find the whole business very discouraging, depressing. It's hard to see anything good in human capacity other than narcisstic self interest. I’d rather go and watch movies.

I can go on, but I’m not going to.

What I am going to do is be a little more constructive. I was watching an episode of Oprah, dealing with the financial crisis and Suzie Ormand made a few really interesting observations.
She said that if your life, and by life I mean your living arrangements, your cupboards, your shelves, the inside of your car; if that’s a mess, your finances are going to be a mess.
If your cupboards and drawers are neat, your finances are going to be in order. [Unless you’re a paranoid schizophrenic].

Now, if you’re a person that has some messy finances, the first step is to start ordering your life. From your desktop, to the desktop computer’s files, to your drawers and cupboard space, your refrigerator, to what you put into your stomach.

If you care about these things, you care about reality and you’ll be accountable to what you owe, and able to make some inroads. If not, you’re on a treadmill to nowhere.

Behind all this, of course are things like motivation, your own personal energy and happiness levels. If you’re not happy, you’ll struggle to stay afloat financially. Addictions are expensive. Addictions range from coffee to Coke. None are good for you.

Things are really not very cool in general, and it’s hard to find the end of the nightmare. But you can control yourself, what you feed yourself, what you focus on, how you live.

Exercise, breathe, and introduce some discipline to your life. Because more and more we are going to need each and every accountable, rational, sensible person in a world that seems to have fewer of these everyday. And we are, make no mistake, heading towards a definable precipice. That edge is sharpening, coming into distinct focus, as we draw nearer to it.
The closer we get to it, the fewer our choices become, and the fewer options we have in terms of which way to go. But first and foremost you have to be ready to see it. If you can’t do that you’re heading right off it. To see it means you have to discipline your chaos in order to be able to see past yourself, your issues, your own mess, to what is really happening. And then be able to respond, without too much baggage.
Think you can do that?