The debt of life

Declined.

At first, I didn’t believe it.

“Could you try again?” I asked, but the answer came back unchanged. There I stood, in the checkout line at Target, ashamed.

My first month with a credit card, and I’d spent up to the limit. My mind was racing. How could this have happened? What did I even have to show for it? Oh crap! What would my parents say? Would they even have to know? How could it have gone so far so fast?

It must have added up a little at a time: $14 at Little Tibet; $29.88 on ITunes. But how could I have maxed out?

I’m not alone. 76 percent of undergraduates have credit cards. On average, we carry a $2,200 balance on them. I guess we just really like to spend. And it makes sense; it’s what we’re encouraged to do.

Bombarded by advertisements and immersed in a consumer culture, we’re conditioned to buy. In fact, in the course of an academic year, the average university student will spend nearly $8,400 dollars on items unrelated to school. 

In light of the recent financial crisis, the monetary habits of Americans have come under much scrutiny. Pundits have chastised us for borrowing too much and saving too little.

And it’s true: We do spend our money recklessly without giving much thought to the consequences. But we’re not careless with only our money.

Think about how you spend your time. Like money, it’s limited, and what’s worse, we can’t even earn more of it. We have what we have, and that’s all. It ticks on constantly and indifferently, regardless of whether we want it to pass quickly or wish for a moment to last forever.

So when it comes down to it, do you use your time how you want? How you should? Or, do you participate in activities because it’s expected of you? Or maybe just to build your resume?

Or, how do you spend your energy? It’s just as limited, and in college it’s quite hard to find. If you’re constantly tired, worn-out and stressed, you must ask yourself: Why? Are you spending your time on what’s important, focusing on the things that matter to you most? Or do you spread yourself too thin, staying up too late, working too much?

Our financial habits in the U.S. might be appalling, but how we spend our time and effort worries me even more. Credit card debt is a small problem compared to wasting years of our lives following the dreams of others. And a lifetime of fruitless days is far more frightening than a foreclosed mortgage.

While one crisis (and one rejected credit card) has prompted us to critically examine how we use our money, let’s also scrutinize how we spend our time and energy. Let’s only keep those expenditures that are most meaningful and rewarding, that are consistent with our goals and desires for life.

All others must be declined.