Why with moving to the USA you will become indifferent to senseless accumulation
'30.09.2022'
Source: Emigrantvideo.us
American Life Stories from Ksenya Konovalova
The longer I live in America, the more often I notice how my habits begin to change. The way I live and how fully I feel. My values. How, where and how much money I spend.
I lived in Ukraine for almost a full 24 years, got a master's degree in finance from one of the best universities, which I graduated with honors. First job, first money, first travel. Earning in hryvnia, I always had to put aside a few months to go abroad, because I so wanted to see the world! I remember how I left for New Year's Europe for 10 days with 300 euros in my pocket - and this, by the way, became one of the most memorable trips!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I lived badly, thank God everything was there, there was an apartment and enough for everything you need. But still, living in a country where there is always an economic crisis and you don’t know what will happen tomorrow, you live in constant tension and at a low start in order to buy buckwheat. The feeling of the need to accumulate is transmitted with mother's milk, while there has never been satisfaction from this accumulation.
In March 2016, I turned 27. And now I have been living in the USA for two years. With the move to America, the feeling that you cannot afford something completely disappears. More often I catch myself thinking that in response to the exciting question of my mother, who stayed in Ukraine, “what's new?” I answer "everything is still stable." And I ask how they're doing, how much the dollar has risen in the last week, why they fired the mayor, or how much they paid the doctor for a free consultation.
Here everything is somehow different. Living in a country where confidence in the future is felt even in the air, you involuntarily stop and calm down. Even if you start working at the minimum rate per hour ($12-15 - in New York, from $9 - in other states), then earning $100/day, you will feel absolutely comfortable. Yes, insurance, education, living here cost money, but they will be, believe me, as there will be opportunities to earn them, if there is a desire.
What is surprising: knowing that now you can afford much more, you stop buying in order to buy. The comfortable feeling of accessibility has the opposite effect. Cheap shopping ceases to be a means of frantic accumulation after the first six months (“Dress for 10 bucks? Ahhh!”). You will buy only those things that you really need, that are really of high quality and bring you joy (closets and apartments are not rubber, in fact). Apartments will get rid of rubbish, there will be a feeling of lightness and control over yourself and your life.
Window dressing and glamor will become echoes of the past and that third world society where it is cool. Knowing that at any moment you can go to the boutique and buy Valentino perfume, and it will not cost you more than one day's salary (and not half of the salary, as we would), you will calm down and buy it when you really run out of perfume or when there is such a need. Going to a restaurant with friends will be a pleasant pastime, where you can easily order a bottle of wine and not go broke. Flying to Miami for the weekend with family or loved ones will be affordable and will cost you no more than one week's wages for two, not five-salary-save-and-teeth-on-a-shelf. The concept of "salary" refers to the minimum that the average Ukrainian receives when he comes to work every day from 9 to 18, five days a week.
So it was with me. And this is by no means propaganda. We are all different, and this is purely and exclusively my subjective experience and my feelings. Where we are today is the result of our actions yesterday. I realized for myself a long time ago that if something does not suit you, the country and the deputies will not help. All in our hands! Believe in your strength - and greetings from America.
P.S. Find something that will move you towards your goal. Find a dream! I have one of them - Cuba. I flew to America to get a little closer to her! I'm kidding, of course. But you get the point. In the photo, by the way, I am at the southernmost point of America, Key West, where I arrived, because in the brochure it was written "The Cape, from where it is only 90 miles to Cuba." Like this!
