Alright this is going to be a very controversial thing to say but.
I really and truly believe that the "treat yourself" culture and people living well above their means and going into a ton of debt just to have fun and live lives of luxury with no regard for the future is a form of passive suicidal ideation. I am only now dragging myself out of a hole of suicidal ideation after being in it since my very early teens and the idea that what you do now doesn't matter because you don't have a future is like. Classic passive suicidal ideation. You aren't actively planning to hurt yourself, you don't actively want to die, but subconsciously or not, you are envisioning a future where you do not exist.
"It doesn't matter if I max out a dozen credit cards because I don't have a future anyway." Okay, why? Why don't you have a future? Where are you in this mystery future where none of your actions now can touch you? I am not trying to be mean, but I need people to really think about this and realize that they are setting up a future for themselves where they are not present and there's only one way that can happen.
Talk to a therapist. Get help. Build a support system. Reach out to your friends and loved ones living like this and express your concern. If they aren't willing to listen, fine. Lots of people living with passive suicidal ideation don't want to listen or acknowledge they have a problem. But maybe they will listen. At least you've tried either way.
It's so scary and horrifying to see this become so common among younger generations and so much of it is because our economy is in the fucking trash. People see how difficult it is to buy a house, get a job they can survive off, get a job that makes going to college worth it, start a family, pay off loans and debts, buy groceries, etc and it's filling them with a horrific and deep existential dread. It's so easy to overspend and get into debt when you can't see a future where saving will ever be worth it, where you will ever face any consequences for spending recklessly now.
And again, that is a form of suicidal ideation. A future where you face no consequences and where you can't benefit from savings is a future where you are dead. Full stop. End of statement. Get help.
I've seen this pop up when I talk about Roth IRAs and 401Ks and such, especially among younger people. "I'm never going to be able to retire, I'm going to have to work until I die, so why should I try to save for retirement?"
I started smoking at fifteen because it didn't matter, I figured I'd never make it to twenty-five, why should I care about cancer? (classic passive suicidal ideation).
I'm turning forty this year and I really really wish I'd been aware how much building up debt would fuck me and what options there were for me to save when I was younger.
You probably aren't going to die before you retire. You are probably going to live past the age where you will be able to work. There is a tomorrow and we want you in it and we want you to be okay.
Talk to someone. Be kind to your future self and the people who love you in the future.
