Recession Guilt

A funny thing happened on the way out of a meeting the other day. I went into the meeting feeling fine and relatively dandy for being a Monday morning in the office and I ended up the meeting, head down, with that feeling of dread in my chest.

We're in a recession and for the first time in the months of bad news - while I've enjoyed such wonders as regular eyebrow threading appointments and expensive dinners out - it finally smacked me like a piece of ply wood to the head. It's been a generational thing, the way that people have been reacting to the news as of late. While so many cutback and pinch pennies, I get a pedicure to relieve myself from the 'stress'. But then the other day I'm sitting down with coworkers listening to a news conference delivered by Governor Paterson. He makes a joke about the notorious SNL sketch then goes into cuts and cuts and more budget cuts and just when you think that he's done all the cutting he needs to do and some poor kindergartner is going to be walking to school because he's about to lay off all school bus drivers, he announces another cut.

It was then that my heart dropped down to my stomach and I didn't think it was the so called Yuppie Guilt hitting me but instead this gnawing feeling of dread. For how could I be the last person to realize that when it comes to the economy we seem to be a bit SOL? It's an age thing, I'd say. We Millennials aren't so much wrapped up in ourselves but we seem to feel slightly immune to what has been going on. Though immunity might be the wrong word: It's like we've all gotten a flu shot which SHOULD protect us from being stricken with chills and a fever BUT it could still happen.

I haven't been worried and I've been one of those fortunate people with an excellent job and great benefits with no sign (KNOCK ON WOOD) of losing any of the above in the near future and yet there is this persistent feeling of dread to watch and hear of so many around me losing their jobs, homes and livelihoods at the drop of a hat. And it didn't hit me until it got really close to home. Until there was a press conference in my backyard where the Governor proposed to put so many on the economic chopping block while I went along status quo. Well it all seems just so unfair to live in a state where much of the nation's economic troubles started and now so many others - without luxury vehicles or six figure salaries - are paying the ultimate price.

It's one of those moments when the unfairness is clouded by the reality of adulthood and life and being a twenty something means embracing those things even when you don't want to. I lied before and now realize that that gnawing feeling is just a bit of recession guilt.

Thankfully - well relatively speaking - I seem to not be the only person suddenly plagued with this feeling:

Fabulously Broke in the City

I had a friend come up to me and over a cup of coffee, guiltily confessed that she felt bad for making so much money especially in this ‘recession’ or economic crisis.

I told her that she deserved the money, and that she was just being paid what she was worth, so making good money is not anything to be ashamed of.

She kind of agreed, but told me it was hard to feel that way, knowing that other people around her – friends and family – were losing their jobs and entering into a kind of panic mode. She just felt so guilty, she wanted to start giving her money away to help people.

Twenty Set

Millennials don’t seem to notice, don’t seem to be worried, or maybe think there’s nothing they can do either way. The dangers of an economic recession are very real though, and millennials should be preparing themselves for whatever the outcome

And how twenty-somethings are reacting from CNN's money blog

Because twenty-somethings are uniquely situated psychologically, they're often less swayed by market panics. That calm, says Will Hepburn, a financial planner at Hepburn Capital, can benefit investors of all stripes. "You can't undo what happened, but if you have money to invest - now is a good opportunity," he says.

HeatherB also writes at No Pasa Nada but mostly plagued by guilt of how much she spent at JCrew. It's all relative here.