- Resource reserves and freedom
- This is about freedom in the sense of “men are free to act for themselves and not to be acted upon.”
- None of this is meant to suggest that there is no value in some amount of scarcity of resources such that we must be faithful in how we manage our stewardship.
- Regardless of the status of other resources, time is always a limited resource (although sometimes not the most constraining of someone’s resources).
- Exploring stewardship might be a topic for another day.
- I have watched over and over in my life (and to a lesser degree the lives of others) the difference in hope, patience, and resilience between times when there are demands that outstrip available resources and times when there are sufficient available resources to meet current and foreseeable needs with some left for discretionary disposal.
- Money, more often than not, is the resource that is most overstretched but it can also be health, time, or emotional reserve.
- When any category of resource is overtaxed it tends to put extra strain on other categories of resources—especially emotional reserve which is the main driver behind lower resilience.
- This also applies to how the resources are made available—if the acquisition of resources comes with constraints or not. (This is where we run up against the concept of golden handcuffs vs golden parachutes.)
- There is a vast difference in the freedom that comes from being given access to health insurance that is tied to a job and health insurance that is independent of employment.
- Likewise there is great freedom in a job where you are guaranteed a generous severance in the event of failure and one where you can be kicked to the curb with no notice or compensation.
- Being given financial resources without oversight is very different than being promised help if you jump through certain hoops or use the resources only in approved ways.
- It may be that this points to the core necessity of agency. People do not thrive without the opportunity to make unburdened decisions—that is decisions about preference as opposed to decisions such as when to make a left turn.
- I noticed the difference in buying my new car because my budget was high enough for me to be selecting between multiple cars that all seemed to be good choices as opposed to all prior vehicle purchases that were a matter of snatching up the first vehicle that seemed like it could meet our current needs within the limits of our current resources.
- Making choices that exceed currently available resources can temporarily feel like freedom but that always carries a future cost.
Action Items
- Explore scarcity and stewardship
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