When I was growing up, money was always an issue. I saw my parents toiling away at their jobs for decades trying to make enough to pay for the mortgage and feed three kids. My parents never complained and seemed happy even though we didn’t have a lot.
I’m now the age my parents were when they started out. Unlike them, I don’t have any mouths to feed, I don’t have a mortgage to pay, and I fortunately have a job with a better than average salary. From an outsider’s perspective I should be very happy, but in fact I’m not. Here’s why.
Money is a funny thing. You think that by having it you’ll be happy. Once you start making some and realize it’s not making you happy, you think maybe it’s because you don’t have enough. So you trade your time for money, sometimes working at a job you don’t even like to make more money.
As time goes on you realize you’ve been spending more and more time at work. Family and friends wonder why you don’t call them anymore. As you climb up the corporate ladder you feel more stress and anxiety than you did before. You find you don’t sleep so well anymore. You find the stress that accompanies the work more than what you bargained for. Also, the cost of keeping up with the lifestyle is starting to add up and you’re not making as much as you thought you would be. Meanwhile, you’re worried about losing the few friends you have because you’re earning more money than they are. Coworkers think you have it all and that you must be happy. If only that were true.
Only you can control your happiness, money can’t buy that for you.
