By Laura BennettMonday 21 Feb 2022Hope DriveTrendingReading Time: 2 minutes
Our threshold for change has been truly tested since 2020 but it hasn’t been all bad, as new trend forecasting shows Australians are adopting some positive lifestyle shifts for the long-term.
One of the big ones according to social demographer McCrindle Research is “intentional life styling”.
“As a result of the last couple of years, Australians have been reassessing their life,” McCrindle Research founder Mark McCrindle said.
“They’ve been reprioritising how they’re spending their time and, it seems that coming out of lockdowns and two years on in this pandemic, Australians have changed how they’re living their lives.
“They’re not just chasing the busyness and the big commute, paying off the mortgage and buying ever more stuff – actually they’re looking to get a bit more balance in their life, and that’s why we talk about that ‘intentional life styling’.
“[Australians are] not just chasing the busyness and the big commute… they’re looking to get a bit more balance in their life,” – social commentator and researcher Mark McCrindle
“We see it in all manner of ways from people moving from capital [cities] to a lifestyle in regional areas, to changing jobs and easing back on some of the spending they’ve done before, choosing instead to invest more in simple experiences.”
Mark said typically when people make changes likes these it’s part of a new year’s resolution or a short-lived health kick, but what gives these adjustments staying power, is the environment they were formed in.
“We have a habit when we ‘clear the decks’ and start over, putting all those things back in and getting back to busyness, but Australians are pretty clear on wanting to slow down on that,” he said.
What gives these adjustments staying power is the environment they were formed in.
What’s interesting is, coupled with this paring back of our commitments and hustle, the phenomena of revenge spending.
Second alone to “feeling anxious”, “we’ve felt frustration”, Mark said, at all the cancelled events and missed milestones.
“That frustration does cause people to say, ‘You know, when I do get a chance to get out there and have dinner with friends, or go out and celebrate, we’re going to do it in style’,” he said.
“It’s not that people will necessarily spend more overall, but that they’re happier to spend more on individual situations.”
Revenge spending “is a funny response and it’s an emotional one”, Mark explained.
“It’s sort of like we’ve personified COVID as this enemy and we’re saying, ‘I’m going to show you, I’m not going to let you mess with my plans’.”
2022 Trends Series
Feature image: Photo by Aliko Sunawang on Unsplash