Tonight, as I started to pack to move into my beautiful new home, I decided to begin by raiding my Mum’s stash of spices in order to fill my lovely new IKEA jars. As my senses were engulfed in the beautiful aroma of these delightful flavor-enhancers that are now so commonplace in our homes, I began to think about how valuable spices once were and how they were actually used as currencies, and even sometimes in the place of a salary. Arguably, the spice trade was, once upon a time, the biggest industry in the world

It seems so bizarre to me that what was once so valuable and precious, is now so common, but I guess that’s just the way that things go.

My mind then wandered to today, and the society we live in; especially in the West, and how ‘Likes’ are considered the new currency. We often judge ourselves by them (perhaps for that little bit of extra dopamine), our ‘friends’ look at them, and without a doubt, organizations determine our worth by the Likes and Followers we have. Whether we ‘like’ it or not, this is today’s reality.

I started to consider how real this currency is in both the virtual and actual world.

I wish I had an answer as to whether it is or isn’t real, but what I do know is that organizations are now defining elements of their success by the number of Likes etc they have. Does that make it real? Or is it only real when it translates into actual money? Or does it, like so many other things, depend on your organization’s strategy?

In the future, will, what we now consider to be so valuable, again be replaced by the next big thing? Without a doubt I know that will be the case. It’s just a matter of us all conforming to the next big thing as we watch our Likes and Followers become so commonplace that we no longer even acknowledge their value; very similarly to the full jars of spices that are now ready to enter my new home.

This post may have inspired you to learn more about spices or Likes. I hope you enjoy the links as well as the post.

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