“The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
If there’s been one theme to my writing as of late, it’s been economic volatility, be it real estate prices skyrocketing, coming back down, rents skyrocketing then falling like a rock, rampant inflation, banks failing, the office real estate market falling apart, or the specter of another 2008-like real estate collapse and deep recession. Volatility has been the name of the game since at least the beginning of the pandemic.
Indeed, most economists have been predicting a recession for some time in 2023, while consumer confidence is significantly below where it was in early 2022. Even prior to Covid, rates of anxiety had been increasing substantially in the United States. One paper found that whereas 5.12% of American adults experienced persistent anxiety in 2008, 6.68% experienced it in 2018. And that was before Covid. The American Psychological Association found that in 2022, “Inflation was reported as a source of stress for the vast majority of adults (83%), and the majority of all adults also said the economy (69%) and money (66%) are a significant source of stress.”
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