When the facade costs too much: Why we live beyond our means?

The article examines the phenomenon of living beyond one's financial means driven by the desire to appear successful. It describes how luxury cars, designer bags, and expensive vacations become part of a facade that does not match reality, leading to loans, overdrafts, and installments. The article points to the role of social media in intensifying this race and suggests returning to living within one's means, without being sucked into a bubble of image and expenses.

The article deals with the widespread phenomenon of living beyond one's financial means, driven by the desire to appear successful in the eyes of others. It describes how people purchase luxury cars, designer bags, vacations abroad, and dining at expensive restaurants, even when these things do not match their salary slips. Behind the scenes, the article notes, loans, bank overdrafts, and installments await, but outwardly everything must appear perfect. The article attributes a significant part of the phenomenon to social media, which presents a curated picture of a glamorous and expensive life, creating a feeling that everyone lives that way except you. It describes an absurd cycle where everyone tries to impress the other, while all live in a different financial reality. The article also explains the phenomenon psychologically, as a gap between how a person feels and how they want to feel, and a need for self-validation and belonging. It concludes with a call not to be sucked into the bubble, to be authentic, and to live according to what is suitable, and to stop spending money one does not have to maintain a facade that no one asked for.