Recessions are not all bad

I heard a wonderful story on Thursday night about a wealthy Icelandic businessman who was crushed by the collapse of the Iceland banks.
At the time, he was in the process of having a splendid new house built for the family in an up market part of Reykjavík and every year, he and his wife would take the children on luxury long haul holidays to some of the most beautiful places on earth.

Obviously, that all came to an end when the banks collapsed - they had to move into the partly built new house with only half a roof over their heads and it was not until a few years later that the roof was finally completed.

However, until the country's financial system returned to normal and he was more or less able to restore his family's previous lifestyle, they were forced to dramatically change theirs.

That first summer after the banks crashed, an overseas holiday was definitely out. They all travelled to a campsite 40 miles outside the capital.
He admits he was dreading it but the children had the best holiday of their lives and the family enjoyed more quality time together than ever.
Since then, flash, expensive holidays have been shelved, despite the fact he can afford them again. The recession taught him and his family to be happy with what they had, to stop flashing the cash and over spending in a bid to keep up with Joneses and he believes that Iceland as a whole has emerged from its crisis as a better country with people more concerned about each other than what they've got with the lesson learnt.