Lunch With Sandy
Welcome to the "Lunch With Sandy" podcast, where we serve up candid conversations seasoned with humor and insight. Join us as we delve into much-needed discussions, sprinkled with our unique sense of humor. On the menu, you'll find a variety of topics, from conflict resolution to navigating tricky questions with grace. We also explore current events, sharing our perspectives on the everyday trials and triumphs. So pull up a chair, grab a plate, and enjoy the feast of conversation.
Lunch With Sandy
Redefining the American Dream
Have you ever paused to consider the true essence of the American Dream, especially within the tapestry of marriage? Join Terrance and Sandy as we peel back the layers of what this dream means today, beyond the white picket fences and 2.5 children. Our candid conversation takes you through the heart of communication within relationships, the balancing act between personal ambition and partnership, and how societal shifts are redefining success.
As we navigate the complexities of love and aspirations, we'll share insights on aligning dreams to forge a stronger bond with your partner. We reflect on the writings of James Truslow Adams, inviting you to ponder if the traditional milestones of the American dream still hold their weight in our rapidly changing society. From the personal struggles to maintain equilibrium in our busy lives to the broader socioeconomic impacts on our pursuit of happiness, we'll dissect the morphing landscape of the American workforce and what it means to 'make it' in today's world.
Our discussion culminates with a forward-thinking gaze at the next generation's approach to life's grand pursuit. Are experiences and fiscal prudence taking center stage over material wealth? We'll explore this shift, considering how the rising costs of living, the technology boom, and evolving family dynamics are reshaping the paradigm of prosperity. So, tune in as we examine the multifaceted nature of the American Dream, its intersection with marriage, and the pursuit of a fulfilling life in the 21st century.
In a relationship, when is honesty not the best policy? How do you balance what you want versus what you need, and is there something you need to say to your spouse but can't find the right way to say it? If so, then you're in the right place. This is the Lunch with Sandy podcast. With nearly 20 years of marriage under their belts, Terrance and Sandy Jackson discuss a range of topics, provide valuable insights on relationships and talk about the conversations married couples need to have. So what does lunch have to do with all of this? Well, it's a metaphor for how these conversations originally started. Speaking of conversations, let's get one going. Here's your hosts, Terrance and Sandy.
Terrance:Welcome to another episode of the Lunch with Sandy podcast, where we delve into topics and offer insights from the perspective of a married couple. I'm Terrance.
Sandy:And I'm Sandy.
Terrance:And today we're going to be talking about the American dream. But before we get to that, I'm going to give you the opportunity to see if there's something that you got to say.
Sandy:Well then, I'm just tired.
Terrance:I'm actually not tired today, which is that is the house Sandy portion of the show. I'm debating on whether or not I'm going to keep doing that portion of the show before we get to the house Sandy, because you know how Sandy's becoming so big right now with all your one word responses.
Sandy:It was more than one word today.
Terrance:Well, we haven't gotten to that, so if you said it, it don't count.
Terrance:You got to say it again I was giving you the opportunity to get something off your chest, to talk about something you wanted to talk about, to shout out somebody. Shout out to Jax, who is over there sleeping in his crate. This new podcast area has become one of his favorite areas. He spends a lot of time over here until we start recording and then he goes back over into his crate. Now, since we spent that amount of time talking about Jackson not getting into you having something to say, let's move right into the house. Sandy. Portion of the episode. Sandy, how are you today?
Sandy:I'm all right. I'm feeling more stressed than anything.
Terrance:Why today?
Sandy:It's just a lot going on this weekend.
Terrance:See, and that's why I purposely am taking a break from certain activities today.
Sandy:Yeah.
Terrance:We went to dinner last night. You guys got this. I don't know how long you're going to be going today. And then tomorrow it's another event. I can't say what event is, because by the time this comes out that event will be over. But tomorrow it's another event. I can't do three days in a row. It's too much. Yeah, and wait a minute. And you went out for dinner on Thursday. I did.
Sandy:Yeah, I did Sunday, saturday, sunday. If I recall, it's four days in a row.
Terrance:Yeah, If I recall you were talking about, you know, really having the ability to say no.
Sandy:Yes. However, I didn't want to say no. Well, there you go. Yeah, I felt like it wasn't too much, because today is just movies and a dinner. I feel like it's kind of relaxing.
Sandy:But, it's the other things that people then try to put on my calendar. Like Ayla wants to do certain things, my mother needs certain things now. And now all of a sudden, where I wanted to have just a relaxing movies and dinner day, it's like, okay, now I got to figure out when am I going to have time to do this and that and so forth and so on.
Terrance:It sounds to me like you're living the dream, and speaking of dreams. That transitions right into what we're going to be talking about today, and that is the American dream.
Terrance:Now you hear a lot about the American dream and I think that the American dream has, you know, changed, or I wouldn't say change. Well, I'm going to say change, but I think, depending on who you ask, it's different and there are a couple of factors that go into what those differences are. But it's interesting to note that that term, the American dream, was actually coined by an author back in 1931, named James Truslow Adams, and basically he had this book, and the book was called the Epic of America and the whole purpose of the book was to remind Americans that the myth of the American dream never dies and since the early foundation of the American nation, people have struggled to make that dream come true. So let's first start out by I'm going to ask you this question what is the American dream to you?
Sandy:Good question I was going to. I was more prepared to say of what I felt, like it was as a kid, I mean and that's, that's, that's fine. Growing up, I felt like the American dream was. You know, you get married, you have a house with a white picket fence, two kids and a dog.
Sandy:Yeah, it was never one for the white picket fence, but I hear you Like that right there was, you know, oh, and it exists successful job. That was kind of like the, the picturesque American dream, yeah, um, yeah, I. I wouldn't say that that's it, that's mine today.
Terrance:So it's it's. It's funny because in that book, right, truslow basically said that the American dream was that every citizen of every rank can expect to have a better, richer, happier life. And those are very simple terms. And I'll take a step back and say 1931, that really didn't apply to everybody, but that's neither here nor there. We'll. We'll skip over that.
Terrance:But if I look at that and I say, okay, well, to have a better, richer, happier life, you can take those things and break them down and I think some of those things that you mentioned fall under some of those categories. But when you start talking about living a better life, when I was coming up, I think that living a better life meant having a better life than a generation before you. And when you start talking about having a better life, that means some of the things that you mentioned better jobs, with better jobs came, better pay, a better home, better neighborhoods all those different types of things fall under to me that category of living better. You can say better food. You can say I mean there's a lot of things that you can actually say, yeah, just everything is better. Yeah, well, I mean in general terms, right, yeah, everything, everything better. Now, when you start talking about you know, riches and things like that, all those things start to fall in line if everything is better.
Terrance:I think one of the things that, to me, when you talk about the American dream and you start looking about, okay, well, let's put the generation aside for a second and look at it from the perspective of those who were really for lack of a better term low on the socioeconomic, you know totem pole or someone who had just come over or, you know, immigrated into this country, it's really about if you worked hard, you could have a better life and you can gain riches and all those things through hard work, and that was, I think, that played a big role in why, you know, a lot of people came and still, why a lot of people come from other countries to America. But that was a big proponent of you know, the American dream If you work hard, you can achieve.
Sandy:Yeah, I just wonder at what point did it become like a rat race over here, you know what I mean. And did that influence that Like everybody just working hard to succeed and to have better ridges and all that good stuff Like, is that what kind of set the precedent for that?
Terrance:That's an interesting question and I can't really speak too much on this, but I'm going to. When I look at immigrants who come to this country and the work ethic that they bring with them not taking anything away from people who are actually here I think when you look at other cultures in other countries, you know that hard work ethic sometimes comes with them and I know earlier on, earlier generations, they built that hard work ethic because when you look at what you know, the industries were in this country. When you start talking about whether it was the auto industry, the textile industry, all those different things that we used to actually create and manufacture here in the States, those were very laborious jobs and so in order for you to do those jobs, you know you had to have a very hard, you know a very strong work ethic.
Sandy:Well, I think it's because they have a goal and a mission to accomplish, right, like I feel like people, when they don't have that, tend to just not work as hard, you know. So if you are poor and you're striving to be not poor, for just simplistic terms, you have that motivation pushing you forward. Now, if you were already born in comfort, like where is your motivation to live comfortably? You're already living comfortably.
Terrance:Yeah, so you said something that just sparked something, right? So when you don't have, the only way that and the only legal way that you can actually get is to actually work hard, and that was up until a certain point. So if you want to achieve, you got to put in the work ethic. Now there are some individuals who are more well-off than others in that work ethic doesn't actually have to be the same. So I think what happens is, as time goes on, things do get better. When I say things get better, I'm talking about from a Technology perspective, from an industry perspective. All these new, modern tools start to come into place.
Terrance:Mm-hmm which makes your work easier or not necessarily your work, the job that has to be done, easier. All these advances make these things easier and then a number of things start to happen from the perspective of okay, that part about working hard you can achieve. Well, some of those jobs might not be available anymore because of Advances and technology and industry and those things like that. So you know, you may have a strong work ethic, but you might not be in a position, yeah, to work. You might not be in the same position to work the jobs that you were able to work before, because now what happens is those jobs as that, either they're Either they're sent overseas, they're farmed out. Yeah, these new jobs. Now you got to make sure that you're qualified for those things, and that means now you got to be educated to a certain degree to actually Mm-hmm being a position to be competitive to actually get those jobs right.
Terrance:And again you start when we start talking about living better than the previous generation. Education falls into that right. The hope is that now, okay, well, your previous generation or your parents or your grandparents might not have had the opportunity To go and get schooled at a higher education. Yeah, but now because Of the American dream. Yep.
Terrance:You have that opportunity to go and get schooled and put yourself in a position to be more competitive in these other markets that they didn't have the opportunity to actually be competitive in, and At one point it was very Affordable to do so.
Sandy:Yeah, no, you're right, I think so. For me I feel like my dream, and I wouldn't say it's necessarily American, I think it's just universal. Yeah it's just to live in peace and comfort. Yeah he's just, you know, not have drama in my life. Just you know they mean not, you know, just. And then comfort like not be poor, but I don't need to be the ultra rich either, just comfortable. I prefer not to work, yeah.
Terrance:I'm gonna. I'm gonna touch on that, not that you not working piece. I'm gonna touch on what you said in a second, but the one question that I well, the one area I want to Touch first, before we get there, is you know, in the beginning, when you were defining the American dream, well, when you were younger, marriage was a big part of it and I think for a while, for most, for not for most people, for a lot of people growing up, that was part of the American dream. And the question becomes Can the American, can you, achieve the American dream If, within that marriage, your dreams are different or or, or or. Let me rephrase that how do you handle the challenge of Achieving that American dream if you find out that the dreams that each of you have is different?
Sandy:Yeah, so right. I think the purpose of being married within the American dream is that it's two people working together, right, you know, to raise the two kids and the dog and take care of the white picket fence.
Terrance:That's what I remember it being. Your partner may not want a dog. No, I know exactly.
Sandy:So that's kind of like the purpose, right, I think, of Marriage being part of the American dream, because now you have two people you know, you live happily, ever after together. Right, you're sick and like, and you said you're going moving towards that and dream, but you're right, like what happens when you don't. How do you prioritize Whose dream is more important?
Terrance:Well, two things. One thing, that you use the word partnership in and early on that's essentially Marriage was looked at. I mean, there was a love aspect of it, but more or less it was okay. Well, partnering with someone so you can actually work together to achieve more right.
Terrance:To achieve that family but at the same time, from an economics perspective, you know, working together and it might it didn't always mean working together where both you had jobs, but working together as a unit to to achieve those things. The other part, from the perspective of prioritizing, I think before you know, when you talk about the American dream and you talk about, okay, well, as a kid and I think for a lot of people as kids and the younger generations might be a little different and defining that but we'll get to that in a second but I think you know, when you talk about finding that someone as part of that dream, you got to make sure that when you're Looking at the scale, Mm-hmm.
Terrance:Well, you're doing interviews I heard you want to call it you have some alignment and what it is that you're trying to achieve from that perspective of, okay, well, I have these dreams and aspirations and you know, in order to achieve them, I need to work with somebody, or I need Well, either I got to work with somebody who has some alignment with those or, listen, I got to go on on my own right and achieve those.
Sandy:That brings up an alas, that our problems right, like you're with somebody and you know that you have completely different dreams, and then it's like, oh, I can change their mind. Yeah, you know, but just yeah good but I Think, I think somebody's caving in all honesty when it comes to the fact that you're right. Oh, hopefully, during the dating courting phase, whatever the heck you want to call it these days, you, you are finding that you have those commonalities. Yep.
Sandy:And hence that's why you decide to move it forward. But if you don't, and you still decide to go through with it, I think right. Either you decide that it's not worth it, Time to go find somebody else or, like I said, I think somebody's caving. Somebody's going to give up their dream?
Terrance:for somebody else Fracture the American dream? Yeah, I, compromise with compromise would be a term that I would say okay, well, when you get to that point, you got to compromise. If someone has to cave, then chances are that there's probably going to be a point where that partnership is actually going to end. Yeah, depending on who the actual individual is. And that's why sometimes you know, when you start talking about living a better, happier I can't remember what else A better, happier, you know, whatever life the question becomes is that is that. Can you really reach the pinnacle of that when you're talking about an individual being married and that, and that's why you know, there are some questions that you have to answer when you talk about, okay, well, what your dream is, and does marriage align with those dreams? Because if you have two people who can work on that and prioritize, because you can be, you can have individual dreams and goals and still function within the confines of that framework of a marriage. But it would take compromise on both sides and it's about whether or not each individual is willing to actually do that.
Terrance:Now let's go back to something you said earlier about what your dream was. The question becomes and I know this. Well, I believe I know the answer is. Well, I know the answer, I'm not going to beat around the bush. The question becomes does everyone define that term, the American dream, the same? And the reason why I say that is because when you start looking at the generation today when I say the generation today I'm just talking about, I'm not there are obviously, there's multiple generations. Let's take a step down and say our kids, because we have two who are in there, two who are in their mid to upper twenties. When they look at that phrase that Truslow said, you know, every citizen of every rank can expect to be better, richer, happier. I think in some cases they're changing those terms because I think some people think about happiness and equate happiness to success.
Sandy:Well, right. So I was going to say first of all, I don't think what was the American dream? Is everybody's Correct yeah? That's correct, that's fair.
Sandy:I think there's some maybe underlying common aspects to it. But not everybody wants to be married, not everybody wants two kids, you know. Not everybody wants to own a home. But with that you're right. I think other things have kind of changed, like, like you said, the happiness.
Sandy:I think a lot of times happiness now goes hand in hand, like what you said, success and money. Money will make you happy, but doesn't really. I don't think it really does. I think there you need somewhat of some money, like you can't be homeless and living off the streets and be is that? I don't know, maybe you can. To be honest, I've never done it personally and I'd prefer not to.
Sandy:But you know, can any of those people be happy? I don't know, I would. I would say probably not. Yeah. At the same time, like, is there a monetary value that goes along with happiness? I need, I think you need to at least be able to take care of your basic stuff, right, but then after that, you know, I don't think you need that much more to be happy. But yet other people need more to be happy. They think they need more to be happy, like they need the grand house, they need the flashy car. Like you know, not everybody, but I'm just saying like I think sometimes that they strive for these things thinking that it's going to make them happy. Yeah.
Terrance:And I think you know. So everyone's definition of happiness is a little different. Yeah, now, true happiness. I think what happens is people can get caught up in the term happy and not really look at the actual totality of that definition. And when you start talking about equating money to happiness there are people who actually do that the question becomes, behind closed doors, how? How truly happy are they? Are they? And that's not something that we can answer. But you said something interesting earlier and there was an actual study that was done and I don't remember who it was by, but they pulled something out of it. They pulled some younger generations and I can't remember the age group about the American dream, and 49% of them felt that marriage didn't necessarily come into play.
Sandy:When you start talking about the American dream, Well, again, how we talked about, I think it's to them the contract itself I guess we'll call it of marriage is not that important. I think they probably still want somebody to be a partner in life with. But why? Why do we need a piece of paper? I think that's where they are starting to question.
Terrance:Yeah, we talked about that in a previous episode. I think the tradition piece when you start talking about the reason for marriage and you start looking at what the American dream was, that was part. It wasn't necessarily. I'm not equating the reason to the dream, but the dream was listen and you, your success. You, you've reached the pinnacle of success If you're able to get married, buy a home and have children, and that and that was it right Now, traditionally, don't forget the dog.
Terrance:Traditionally, you know it's been yeah, you want to get married, I think when we had this conversation before. I think that is changing because and I told you my feeling on it I don't necessarily believe that two people have to be married to commit to each other.
Sandy:Yeah. So do you think, if you were growing up in today's times, that you'd get married?
Terrance:I don't know, I don't know. I, you know, I like to play the long game, and when I start talking about playing the long game and I talk about the American dream, if there's goals that we want to achieve, we have to start looking at what the formula is for us to actually be able to achieve those. And we have to be efficient and we have to be smart. Now, if we're gonna spend, let's say, $50,000 on a day that's gonna come and go and you can't recoup that cost, right, was it worth it? And I'm not gonna say was it worth it, but is it a better investment to take that $50,000, invest it diversified and then 10, 15, 20 years, that $50,000 is $500 to a million.
Sandy:So would you bring up another good point? So is that part of the ideal with the American dream too? Not just marriage, but have also a nice big wedding. Because you don't need to spend $50,000 on a wedding. You can literally just a couple of people go where you wanna go a church if that's where you're looking to go, town hall if that's where you're looking to go and actually get married.
Terrance:That's interesting because I think part of it. I think in some people it is when they talk about the wedding. Well, when they talk about marriage, the big part of that.
Sandy:They get about the wedding Party. It's basically a huge party.
Terrance:I've been yeah. So when you said party, I equated party with the people who are part of the wedding.
Sandy:Yeah, they're like the festival occasion of a wedding.
Terrance:I think for some people, that is a big part of it. I think it depends on. There are a number of things that it depends on Culture depends on it, the way that brought up religion. There's a whole bunch that actually plays a part of that. I think now, if I was I think if I was coming up today I'd be in that.
Terrance:49% that did not include marriage as part of the American dream. Companionship, commitment, yes, marriage. No only because, again, knowing what I know now, knowing what true happiness is and what's required at times and when I say what's required in order to be truly happy, you have to, at times, be in control of what it is that you want to do and what you need to do, and there is a financial aspect to that. So, in order to get to that point, you got to start thinking about okay, well, how can I make smart financial decisions to put me in a position where, if I feel like I don't like doing something at this particular point in time, I don't have to do it and that's going to actually make me happy.
Sandy:Yeah, so I would have still wanted to get married, but that's more religious purposes than anything. However, I probably would have pushed harder for what I really wanted our wedding to be like, which was just us and a few people on a beach.
Terrance:Well getting married, you wouldn't have gotten the beach. I'm gonna tell you right now I would listen if you're just talking about a small ceremony with a few people and not that large investment then I probably would be able to get on board. But again, I think part of it is too.
Sandy:But yeah, not the big festival, huge occasion that we had, but just something small, intimate, and, yes, I would have preferred to have it on a nice sandy beach and had our honeymoon there while we're at it.
Terrance:Yeah, you know what else was interesting and you mentioned this earlier when they were talking about that study a big part of that was whether or not marriage would hinder someone from achieving their version of the American dream. Because again, you start talking about that whole what's priority and those things, and who caves and who doesn't Right.
Sandy:I think, if my American dream was just riches like that's all you cared about is I wanna work my butt off and I wanna spoil myself with every luxury that there is out there. I don't know if I'd wanna be married, because then the marriages or even in a relationship, potentially because that unless that person is bringing something to that, they're making their own riches like they're completely on the same page. At that point I think it would distract me from my dream, because now I have to. Now I can't work 10 hour days because I have to actually put in some time and investment with this other person. That isn't bringing anything to. I went. That's so cynical, but you know what I mean that's not bringing anything to it.
Terrance:I think it's time for us to switch gears. And then it's starting to go down that dark road again, so let's kick happiness to the side for a second right. There were three terms better, richer, happier, the better part or the richer part.
Sandy:Well, we'll go with better, because I think better you're right. I think we all stand on the shoulders of somebody else to help us be where we are. Not many of us start at the very bottom and crawl our way up to the top alone, Like it's usually I mean, there are some, but there's not there are some definitely.
Terrance:Well, and you know what I think? No, I think you have a point there from the perspective of when we start talking about, when you think about better, as advancement has come along, that automatically makes a lot of your life better, and by that what I mean is advancements in-.
Sandy:Whoever invented the rice cooker, I love them.
Terrance:We can say technology, but transportation, medicine, all of those things I was gonna say. You know food, but there's a whole-.
Announcer:Yeah, yeah that's the whole other thing.
Terrance:There's a whole different things, but I do think that the generations up into a point may have the opportunity of living better Now. I say that because one of the big issues that we face right now that some people don't believe is true is the whole climate situation.
Sandy:Okay, cause I was gonna say we're definitely living longer right now.
Terrance:I think there's a lot that goes into that. I think you know obviously better medicine and things like that.
Sandy:But yeah, I wouldn't say that the climate is better.
Terrance:Well, no, climate control is a huge issue, and so when I say for a while, what I mean is, you know we are living longer, medicine's better, the way that the knowledge that we have about the things that we need to do, you know, is better.
Terrance:The ability to detect certain things again, advancements in medicine is better, and that requires, I mean, and that leads to people living longer.
Terrance:The other part about that is, I think a lot of people are more invested in themselves and they are making more healthier choices and whether it be, you know, exercise, eating right, those things and I think those lead to people living longer and which then you can classify as the ability to live better. Let's get to the richer part and the well, you know what? And these two are kind of joined at the hip, because when you talk about living better, when I look at the future generations and I say okay, I look at what we have now and I think that I know for me, I live in a better house than my relatives did growing up, I have access to better things, and in part of that there is a financial aspect that's tied to that. When I look at the girls coming up, I look at that opportunity kind of slipping away. Not the medicine, transportation, technology, but when you look at things like the cost of living is increasing and the wage increase is not equivalent. Not equivalent right.
Sandy:Home ownership. I was gonna say the price of home. Oh, home ownership.
Terrance:And in conjunction with the interest rates and all those things, even rent rates, it is very difficult right now for the people who don't own homes one to get into the actual market but two, even the fine places, to actually rent and that doesn't seem like it's slowing down Historically. Cost of living, cost of homes, those type of things, they increase and if the cost of home ownership increases and you're in a situation where it's keeping people from being able to get into that market, then that means that they actually have to rent. And if the demand for rentals is high supply and demand it's just gonna keep rising the cost up to get in.
Sandy:Yeah, which is right. I think it's very difficult these days, especially if they don't have the support system that you might have with your parents, like if your parents are just like, all right, you're 18, get out, like you're really, they're gonna be back at square one, right, like unless you have the help there. And it just you made me think of something that we were talking about the other night, which really has nothing to do with the American dream, but it had to do with clothes and styles coming back, and so it made me think about that conversation and it makes me wonder is there certain things that people used to do back in the past that may also come back If you think about it? Usually, homes were multi-generational.
Sandy:You had, like the grandparents, the parents and the children all and well, I guess the grandchildren all living in one house and working together as like a common unit. You know what I mean. Yeah. Is that gonna potentially become back almost like the dream? I think it may. Because like to help. Like they say, it takes a village to raise kids and it does. And think about how expensive daycare is, like it was expensive enough when we had it, but I can only imagine trying to put multiple kids through daycare today. You know.
Terrance:I think a lot of that is coming back and I think the way that certain individuals in this next generation think about that is changing and I think that they have the opportunity or, from their perspective of the American dream, that is the type of stuff that's actually gonna make them richer.
Terrance:And when I say richer I don't necessarily mean financially, because although some of them equate, you know, happiness with success.
Terrance:At the same time, you started talking about all these clothes and things coming back. That same study found that the next generation is less concerned with amassing a whole bunch of possessions and being more fiscally responsible from the perspective and, to a point, they have to be Fiscally responsible when it comes to those things. They're more in tune to experiencing things which leads to happiness and fulfillment and richness in their lives. So that American dream, when you start talking about home ownership and those things that might not be at the forefront in all their minds, but there is some level of happiness or richness or fulfillment which I think is smart, because now, when you look at what has and our generation and a generation before part of that American dream, when we start talking about the American dream, a lot of those people are there. Let's be honest. We live in a capitalistic society. A lot of people look at the American dream as I wanna be able to make as much money as possible, and that's it. Yeah.
Terrance:Because of the challenges that are now in the forefront. It provides the opportunity for the younger generation, or the next generation, to think about these things different and they're much more willing to have an experience that is going to enrich their lives, to reuse or be more cost effective when it comes to purchases and things like that, and that it's all tied because when you start doing things like that, that leads to the opportunity for you to have those resources to go and have these experiences. When you start talking about I wanna travel, I wanna spend time with my family, so I think that's a good thing.
Sandy:Yeah, which is kind of funny because when you first said riches, I wasn't thinking monetary, I was thinking just a richer life, like a more fulfilling type of life. And you're right, there was another study that was done as well in more people today, rather than giving materialistic gifts or doing experiences, like that Cause. Now that goes hand in hand with so many other things climate control. You don't have a bunch of waste out there right.
Sandy:Just us amassing great amount of stuff. People are traveling more well that one could actually impact the climate too, but we won't get into that.
Terrance:Gotta be some give and take.
Sandy:Right, some give and take. Maybe not have as much plastic in the world, but we'll let out some fumes from the airplane. But, anyhow. So, yeah, so it's become and I think that is a richer life, is being able to like, experience things and just feeling fulfilled and not just working. But again, that's my particular vision, but it seems to be in line with what is happening out there with the majority as well.
Terrance:Well, no, what that does, it does prove the point. It does prove the point that everyone's definition is a little different. Right, when, when Truslow was mentioning that you know better, richer, happier life. When, when he mentioned riches, they were talking about from the perspective of okay, well, you got, yeah, so you gotta remember this is 1931, they were talking about money, but people look at riches and it's different. I think one of the things that it does for me is it gives me much more confidence in this younger generation. You know, I tell you all the time I'm concerned about you know how our kids are going to be able to make that leap, to be in a better position than we were. But when I start doing research and I start looking at what it is that the younger generation views, as you know, a rich life, a happy life, and they're more into the experiences and they're more in tune to the environment and what's going on and those type of things, that gives me confidence in the sense that they're going to be all right.
Terrance:Yeah.
Terrance:So we started talking about the American dream and as we went through this conversation, it's clear that the dream has changed and many people define it differently. So I was going to ask the question and I'm not because I'm, you know, I think it's time we wrap. I was going to ask the question is the American dream attainable? And the answer to that is yes, because each person defines that differently. I think we're at a point now where each generation is going to look at what it is that they want to accomplish in their life and that is going to define what that dream is for them, and I think that that's a great thing, because the traditional definition of what the American dream was is not as easily attainable as it was at one point in time. With that out the way, it is time for my weekly reflection. I saw this the other day. Well, I saw this happen the other day and it clicked.
Terrance:So sometimes it takes one person to question what it is you're doing. Before you question what it is you're doing, and let me explain what I mean. Not everything that we're going to do is going to be really in our best interests, and we might not see it at first. Sometimes it takes someone questioning you, saying what the hell is it that you're doing? Why are you doing that? For you to actually be able to open your eyes and then understand wow, maybe this is something that I shouldn't be doing. This is not going to work out for me in the long run, so it's good to make sure that you have individuals who are around you who can pose those questions to you when that opportunity comes up. That's it for this episode. Thank you for listening to the Lunch with Sandy podcast. Please be sure to follow us and leave feedback on your favorite podcasting app. Until next time, stay well.
Announcer:That's it for this week's episode of the Lunch with Sandy podcast. Thanks for listening. We'd love to hear your feedback and comments on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter at Lunch with Sandy, and be sure to follow us on your favorite podcast app. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to rate and review us. Thanks again for listening to the Lunch with Sandy podcast.
