Famous American writer Ernest Hemingway in his book “The Sun Also Rises” answers the question “How did you go bankrupt?” this way:
“Gradually, then suddenly.”
It's a great display of what psychologists call “normalcy bias”
I found a good definition on a psych website: “Normalcy bias is a psychological state of denial people enter in the event of a disaster, as a result of which they underestimate the possibility of the disaster actually happening, and its effects on their life and property. Their denial is based on the assumption that if the disaster has not occurred until now, it will never occur.”
We are so easily susceptible to the bizarre voice in our heads that tells us “everything will be OK” even when the warning signs are completely obvious.
Our brains simply cannot grasp that tomorrow could be radically different than today… and that our world could become completely topsy turvy.
How's things in your world? Do you believe that “things will get back to pre-Covid normal?”
Good luck with that!
This is why I consistently write about having a Plan B, which can be described as something like an insurance policy.
But you can’t wait until you return home and see with a sinking feeling in your stomach that the front door is swinging wide open with a smashed lock, before thinking about an insurance policy.
South Africa and Afghanistan are but two recent examples of places where too many people procrastinated. They put off taking action because there was no clear and present threat compelling them to do so. “It won't happen here,” they rationalised. By the time it did, it was way too late to set up a Plan B.
Given that the application process for the fastest Citizenship application on the planet (Vanuatu) takes at least a month to complete, even outside of Covid times, they were indeed: way too late.
Having a great Plan B requires action now… Taking the appropriate steps for your situation BEFORE anything terrible happens, while you still have the resources and presence of mind to do so.
So don’t give in to normalcy bias and assume that everything will always be OK. The last 20 months should be a stark reminder that things can change very quickly.
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