Unlearning scarcity: Part One
The Lie of Scarcity
Hello beautiful you,
Most of us live in a world that runs on the story of not enough. Not enough money. Not enough time. Not enough attention. Not enough opportunities.
Especially if you’re a woman. Especially if you’re creative. Especially if you’re trying to do life and work in a way that feels better.
The big one is money, of course — thanks, capitalism!
Capitalism depends on the perception of scarcity, because that’s what keeps the wheels of consumption, competition, and profit turning. Note the word perception. We need to question this.
Scarcity keeps us striving. And when you’re striving, you don’t have time to look around and question the system. You’re head down, hamster-wheeling your way through your to-do list, trying to get ahead, or not fall behind.
And it’s not just money. Scarcity seeps into everything: Not enough support. Not enough attention. Not enough energy. Not enough resources.
If you often feel like you’re behind, or like you’re not doing enough, or getting enough, that’s not a personal flaw. It’s not proof that you’re doing things wrong or missing some secret memo that everyone else got.
It’s just a sign you’ve absorbed a belief system. One designed to keep you striving, doubting, and stuck.
And we absorb it early. I’ve been watching my son prepare for his GCSEs recently, and it struck me how scarcity is baked right into the system.
The way the GCSEs work, some people have to fail. It’s built into the grading system itself. Success is distributed, not assessed on merit alone.
So even if everyone does well, not everyone gets to succeed. A pass doesn’t mean you met the standard. It means you did better than enough of your peers.
If you got the same number of marks next year, you might fail. Or you might get a grade higher. That’s not about education is it?! That’s about a system where winning and losing is already baked in.
So, this teaches us early in life, there’s only so much success to go around.
That if someone else is at the top of the class, you can’t be. That if someone else is seen, chosen, celebrated — you’re not. That not everyone gets picked for the team. That if someone else gets the pie, your slice is gone.
But here’s the thing: even though scarcity is a real thing, not all systems work that way.
Especially not the systems we create for ourselves.
When you’re building a creative life or business, you get to define the rules. You don’t have to recreate the scarcity-based systems you were raised in. You can choose a model that’s expansive.
You can decide to trust your timing. To write, build, or grow at your pace. You can take yourself out of the comparison game and stay in your own lane.
I bloody LOVE staying in my own lane. So much clearer!
Prompts for reflection:
Where does scarcity show up in your life or work? What does it say to you?
What are you scared to want more of — and what are you making that mean about yourself?
What does ‘enough’ look and feel like for you?
Whose system are you operating inside and what would it look like to make your own?
If you were staying in your own lane, what might you start to do differently?
I’ll be back tomorrow with the second part which helps you to find ways of dealing with your scarcity triggers…
With infinite love,
I love your approach to challenging the idea of scarcity. Abundance is everywhere, if we slow down and take the time to be grateful, it will shine through that clouded glass we tend to look through.
The GCSE point is so so true and makes me so sad and angry, I hadn't thought about it in the context of scarcity mindset, but you're right. Good luck!