Flying Thoughts: Are We Talking Ourselves into a Depression?

My flying thought for today is this; are we talking ourselves into (a) depression?

Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world. I spend a lot of my time going between the States and the UK and, as such, have noticed some stark contrasts between the two nations. There are many similarities between the Brits and our American counterparts, of course, but for once, I’d like to concentrate on the differences, so indulge my thoughts for a moment or two.

I’ve noticed, in my humble opinion, that we Brits tend to have a more negative outlook than our American brethren. My concern is that, looking towards the future, a more negative outlook will force the UK towards a depression (likely in both the fiscal and mental sense of the word). The stereotypical British stiff-upper-lip may be causing more harm than good.

When I’ve spoken to folks from the US about politics, the economy, diversity and all those other topics I can lament upon for hours on end, on the whole, I’ve found that the US seems to have a more positive outlook. They believe that things will work out for the better, which I don’t need to tell you can manifest into reality, particularly in the worlds of business and the economy, which are so intrinsically linked it can be near impossible to separate the two. This isn’t because I believe in magic and that positivity can manifest things out of thin air. Quite the opposite, by looking at the world in a positive way, or at the very least in a confident manner, people are more likely to push forward with causes they believe in. They will live their lives, spend their money, and do things they love. Whereas, if you’re looking at the world through a negative lens, the uncertainty impacts the way you interact with the world around you. Essentially, you are less likely to spend your hard-earned cash.

The economic decisions we as consumers make are often based on what we expect the outcome to be. If we feel safe and secure in the world, we put ourselves out there. If we feel that the world is going to shit, pardon my language, you’re hardly going to want to take the risk. My fear is that our negative outlook could potentially lead to a depression. We’ve seen this time and time again.

We are living through unprecedented times in the wake of Covid-19 and the world feels more uncertain than ever to many of us. The British idiosyncrasy to view the world in a negative way concerns me. You’ll have witnessed it first-hand, I’m sure. We seem to only be happy when we’re complaining about something. We revel in the chance to complain, to moan, and in my experience, this isn’t something our American counterparts do.

So, what I’m putting to you is this, is our tendency to have a stiff-upper-lip, to enjoy being miserable, setting us up for failure? As a disclaimer here: I’m not saying that every British person is negative. Nor am I saying that every American is positive. We both know that’s not true. I’m talking about the consensus, the overall feeling, you get when spending time in the different countries and these seem to be polar opposites.

I’m proposing a mentality shift.

A shift to looking at how we can rectify an issue, rather than lamenting about the issue itself. We need to band together to fight against negativity. I often wonder how we can achieve this. I’d love to hear your thoughts and feelings on the matter, and hope that this blog post gave you something to think about. I am a part of the issue too. I tend to lean towards the risk, negative and the dramatic, from time to time. We’re all human, and we all have feelings, but I am suggesting a conscious effort to push forward, to focus on the future, and to do what we can to make the world a positive place to live in.