Borrowing From Tomorrow to Survive Today

Jul 11 , 2026
By Kidist Yidnekachew

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Debt is not always created by crisis alone. Small, repeated borrowing decisions can gradually become part of everyday life without conscious intention. The belief that help is always available changes how people assess financial risk and spending. Over time, borrowing becomes easier while saving becomes harder. The greatest challenge lies in rebuilding independence before dependence feels permanent.

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The other day, I was having coffee with a friend, let’s call her Maya: when she confessed something that caught me completely off guard. She had been reviewing her finances and realised how casually borrowing money had become an ingrained part of her daily life. It was never a lifestyle she consciously chose. Like many people, and even entire countries, she simply woke up one day and found herself trapped in a cycle of debt. When she finally sat down with a pen and paper to trace her spending, the reality became impossible to ignore. Borrowing had quietly shifted from an emergency measure to a regular monthly habit.

Maya’s situation is remarkably common, yet few people speak about it with such honesty. Like many middle-class professionals, she struggles to stretch her income from one payday to the next. Still, there is a puzzling contradiction in the way she handles money once it reaches her account. The moment she has cash available, she feels an illusion of financial security. For a brief period, it seems as though the money will never run out. That feeling drives an urge to spend on things that offer immediate happiness. She recalled buying her children toys they pointed to in a shop, fully aware that within days she would be broke again.

Listening to her, I realised the pattern made perfect sense psychologically. Behavioural economists describe this as present bias, the tendency to place greater value on immediate rewards while downplaying future consequences. For Maya, the joy of seeing her children smile outweighs the anxiety of facing an empty bank account a week later.

She also admitted there is always another thought lingering in the background. Whenever she spends money, she assumes she can always borrow from family or close friends if things become difficult. That belief changes how she approaches financial risk. It reduces what financial psychologists call the "pain of paying." Knowing she has somewhere to turn removes the urgency to budget carefully or build savings. The discipline to protect her income gradually disappears when a financial rescue feels only a phone call away.

One of her most revealing observations was how quickly pride fades. The first time she asked someone for a loan, it was humiliating. Looking a friend in the eye and admitting she could not make ends meet felt deeply uncomfortable. Yet people adapt surprisingly fast. Repeating the experience slowly stripped away the embarrassment. After borrowing several times, asking for money became routine. Eventually, she crossed a line she once believed she never would, approaching people she had always promised herself she would never ask.

Over time, borrowing became almost strategic. She began mapping out different scenarios in her head, calculating which friend might be willing to help. If one person declined, she already knew who she would call next. She kept a mental list of people with a history of lending her money. When that network became exhausted, she turned to digital options such as Telebirr's micro-loans. The facilitation fees were high and the interest rates painful, yet the urgency of the moment always outweighed the cost.

Ironically, Maya now admires people who refuse to borrow, even from close family members. They work harder, make sacrifices, and find ways to solve their financial problems independently because pride forms a firm boundary they refuse to cross. Maya chose to lower that boundary, believing it made life easier. Looking back, she sees the long-term cost was far greater than the short-term relief.

She is now confronting a difficult truth. Constant borrowing creates dependence and encourages financial recklessness. When an economic cushion always seems available, spending loses its limits. The reverse is equally painful. During the moments when no one is able or willing to lend, the anxiety becomes overwhelming.

That anxiety has changed the way she views work itself. She envies small business owners and merchants because they generate cash continuously. As a salaried employee, she feels trapped waiting an entire month for a single paycheck. If she needs something today, waiting even a few days feels unbearable. Even when her husband assures her the money will be available shortly, her mind immediately searches for another way to obtain it.

This frustration has even shaped an unusual fantasy. She sometimes imagines life without cash altogether. Instead of receiving a salary, she pictures being given vouchers or gift cards while her employer pays her rent, her children's school fees, groceries, and other necessities directly. She believes such a system would spare her the constant mental struggle of deciding how to divide limited money among endless demands.

Recently, Maya came across a spiritual lecture that deeply resonated with her. The speaker reflected on relying on the Creator for sustenance instead of constantly depending on other people for survival. She found comfort in the thought of trusting that her basic needs would always be provided for.

Accepting that idea is not easy. Maya has always believed she must make things happen herself. If she is not planning, negotiating, or searching for another solution, she feels idle. Letting go feels completely foreign to her nature.

Still, as we finished our coffee, she admitted she is beginning to see that this shift in perspective may be the missing piece in her financial recovery. Trusting a higher power does not mean abandoning responsibility. For Maya, it means working honestly, living within her means, and releasing the constant fear of what might happen next. It also means ending the exhausting habit of treating the people around her as a revolving line of credit.

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PUBLISHED ON Jul 11,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1367]

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