You're not missing out on anything

I recently came across the term “Scarcity Mindset” and I can’t stop thinking about it. It perfectly sums up why the mental state of our entire generation is the way it is today.

Our brains have been wired to notice the lack more than the joy that is present. We are no longer happy with what we have. And how could we? When we are constantly flooded by all the things that we could have but don’t.

 The entire world is a minefield and the lack doesn’t need much of a trigger to show itself. The biggest perpetrator? Social Media. 

Make the mistake of opening Instagram and bam- all your feelings of insufficiency bubble up without warning. Your high school friend is on a vacation in Bali while you’re writing this from your childhood bedroom. That one girl you never spoke to but always admired has moved in with her boyfriend in a cosy 1bhk in London. Your ex-best friend, now acquaintance is now an instagram success and jetsetting her way through brand collabs.

How could your humble joys ever compete with such loud celebration? You can’t help but notice the lack till that is all you see. 

You don’t even realise how this mindset pervades into your life and make you do things not because you want to but because you feel like you should. 

Dating is a big one. The scarcity mindset pushes people into the dating pool because they’re desperate to have someone, anyone to hold on to. If you end up settling and in a bad relationship or god forbid a situationship, it’s still better to have someone (anyone) to hold on to than be the plus one to your coupled up friends.

Work is another one which makes the lack apparent. People around you are earning double, triple your salary. The fact that they are your own age makes it worse. The fact you hate your job doesn’t make it better either. Your friends are getting promoted or hired at MNCs meanwhile you’re still figuring out what it is you want to do.

It doesn’t matter if you have great friends, a loving family, places to go to, hobbies to fill your time- all the things you have are rendered insignificant by all the digital stimulation that tells you that you are missing out.

Unless you read an article about the Scarcity Mindset which totally blows your mind and jars you into consciously rewiring your brain to tune into an abundance mindset.

So how do you embrace the abundance which your life offers over the scarcity? The only thing I have found that helps is to build my life with things I enjoy doing. 

Fill up your own cup till the brim, till it overflows, till it floods the room.

Don’t look for external cues to map your life, do your own thing. 

This Substack article is an attempt to do the same. Choose abundance and maybe, just maybe you’ll stop seeing the scarcity.