Can we be serious for a moment; not too long, but longer than usual? Gas prices are going up folks. US oil drilling is at its highest point in more than 10 years. But when Toyota Prius commercials come on TV during sporting events, we know longer make fun of them for advertising a “fake car” that “only a hippy or English professor would drive.” Instead, we think to ourselves “40 miles a gallon, that does sound nice ...”

 What I’m trying to say is, things are rough out there — and it costs you a little more every day to stand outside your car with a gas pump for the same amount of time. But not all is lost, there is always hope. In this case, the hope isn’t some alternative fuel source, or driving at 35 mph so you are operating at maximum fuel efficiency. The answer is a simple change in how we view “money”  and how we rank things on a scale from “need” to “want.” The answer is the “Bro-conomy.”

The word “Bro-conomy” is made by combining the word “Bro” (a dude who traditionally wears a backwards hat and watches too much “SportsCenter”) and “economy” (The wealth and resources of a country or region, especially in terms of the production and consumption of goods and services). It is the economic system that a majority of people participate in from the age of about 16 to whenever a person’s responsibilities outweigh their free time. The bro-conomy doesn’t focus on maintaining a positive bank account balance; it’s about having just enough or slightly less than you need to get by and finding a sense of pride in just making it.

For a basic example of a bro-conomic exchange, Imagine you and a group of friends are hungry and would like to eat some pizza. None of you has the resources to drive down to the restaurant and order a pizza for yourselves, and the minimum order for delivery is more money than you’ve had in a while; but if all of you combine the few dollars in your pockets, you can make it to the pizza place and enjoy a slice. Notice, when you’re splitting a pizza with a group, you don’t spend your time wishing you had the money to do this by yourself, or thinking about how if you skipped a few parties and worked overtime you could order two pizzas by yourself. You just enjoy the pizza because when it comes down to it, you needed to eat eventually to prevent starvation and you wanted to eat a pizza. After the pizza is finished you’ve also earned a non-monetary bonus in the form of a story, i.e. “Dude, remember that time we wanted pizza, so we piled in Mikey’s mom’s station wagon and paid in change we found in the couch? That was awesome.”

As we age, we pick up responsibilities (kids, health care, car payments ...), so “getting some pizza” won’t always be the most pressing issue we face every day, but the basic idea is the same. When you pull up to that gas pump, you may be less than excited, especially if you’re old enough to remember simpler times like 1996, when Celine Dion’s “Because You Love Me” was the No. 1 song, we were the host country for the Summer Olympics and the average price of a gallon of gas was $1.71; but you still need gas to prevent breaking down, having to call your boss to say you’ll be late, and being forced to walk somewhere to fill your gas can and you want to get it before it starts raining/snowing/wind storming outside. Instead, take joy in the fact that against all the odds, your car is still running, get just enough gas to get to the cheaper gas station across town and be proud of your gas mileage estimation when you’ve just made it into the lot when your tank dries up. If anything, buying gas is always a good story — if you’re filling your tank, you could burn through $100 standing still, like a boss — and remember, things could always be worse: You could drive a Prius.

Vincent Davis II is a Cornell graduate, DJ, and market development specialist in the IT industry. His column appears on the second and fourth Friday of every month. He can be contacted at vincedavis06@gmail.com