Email 
Bookmark 
Print Avoiding Affluenza
by Claudia and David Arp, M.S.W.Each fall we join the other throng of Knoxvillians, who come out and stand in line for a free flu shot. Why do we do this? It's not because it's fun or painless. Then for the next couples of days we drag around. Pleasant experience? Not in our top ten, so why do we do this year after year? It's because of what we don't get the rest of the year and that's the flu! Smart people avoid contagious diseases!
Well, there's another epidemic that is sweeping the country. Shopping, overwork, stress, and debt -- all are symptoms of a communicable disease that is threatening your marriage and your family! It's "affluenza."
How is your marriage and family impacted by this disease? Fueled by advertising, priorities have becomes skewed. For instance, more people visit a mall each week than attend church. The average shopping time each week is six hours yet the average time spent playing with children is only forty minutes. And from our observations, marriage partners are even more neglected!
Is there a cure for "affluenza?" Yes, but you have to take aggressive steps such as:
- Place yourself on domestic quarantine. Stay away from the shopping malls.
- Read a good book instead.
- Call your spouse and plan an activity together that doesn't cost any money.
- Be more critical of commercials and advertising.
- Reprogram your thinking. Picture the Jones as the thriftiest people you know and then try to keep up with them.
- If all else fails, bake a couple of your little plastic cards at 350 degrees F. for ten minutes!
Do your part today to stomp out "affluenza." By spending less, not more, you'll have the energy and resources to invest in your marriage.
~ David and Claudia Arp, MSW, founders of Marriage Alive Seminars, are marriage educators, columnists and authors of numerous books and small group video curriculum including The Second Half of Marriage and 10 Great Dates (Zondervan)
Website: www.marriagealive.com