I was just sitting one day, worked up because of the professional life and the work pressure during the lockdown, making me realize that how I had distanced myself from people to complete my work and meet my deadlines. And my hands suddenly stopped pressing my keyboard and I noticed that the only motivating factor was money.
If we come to think of it money has been a driving force in everyone's life. We work beyond our limits to earn money, which is definitely for a better lifestyle, to give our family all that they want and to meet their needs. We are constantly in a space where we upgrade ourselves, try and jump for a better position, better salary, more profits, more money.
Well, I buy the fact, that money is really important but it’s not the only thing which is important. Take a moment and think about it when was it when you spent time with your family or your loved ones, without your phone ringing. When was it that you were completely there for your children or your parents or spouse?
While we all run behind money, we often tend to forget how beautiful life is and there’s more to life than just money. And there’s a lot that money takes than just sweat to earn it.
I come across people who are passionate about something but are not able to pursue it full-time as they need to earn, and for this, they sacrifice their passion, something which is really close to their heart and something that they are good at. It is really easy for them to choose a mediocre life than to follow their passion and be extraordinary.
A person would pursue CA, CFA, Law and constantly run behind gaining knowledge or to be precise a degree so that he can earn well. And it is not wrong, because that's how our mind has been trained to earn and save. One important thing which was never taught was to earn to save and spend. We don't spend half the amount that we earn on ourselves on something that we want to do. We are constant torn between earnings, meeting needs, and then saving.
I had recently visited a mall and came across a child who wanted to buy chocolates for him, but his mother shouted and didn't buy him the chocolate. Apparently they were earning to give him a better future but isn't chocolate worth the smile that the kid would have if he got it. I'm sure at this point he didn't care for his future because for him that chocolate was more important at this point.
We all might have come across a situation where we want to go out on a holiday, but then we are busy calculating the budget of the trip. If we want to stay in a four-star hotel, the budget drives us mad and we come down to 3 stars or even a 2-star hotel. We wish to travel by flight but we come down to train to keep it within our budgets. We might even think of spending that money over there having good food, clubbing but rarely do we realize that we don't even do that because the budget has been back of our mind and then we start compromising on our trip.
Why was that money earned, 'FOR YOU RIGHT' or let's put it right 'FOR YOUR FAMILY' then why can't you spend it on yourself or your family? Why can't you just be you without thinking about the monetary aspect behind it?
I know a person who had saved ample money for his children and when they got the amount and that life which their father had seen for them, they couldn't handle that money. They had to sell their house and settle in a smaller house, pay off a few debts. One was into alcohol consumption which is where most of the savings went. I'm sure this was definitely what their father wanted. We probably don't even know who might actually use that money and how would it be used post your gone. Would it be used for something good or something like drugs, smoke, or alcohol
Isn't it good to probably give this time that you spend working for a better salary and position given to your children and your spouse? Won't a smile on their face and that moment be more precious? Wouldn't it be really good to go out and spend that money on yourself without the baggage of savings? Because experiences are what we need to live for. Why can't we create memories and moments that we could cherish, that we could probably talk about when we are probably 80.
It's really easy to follow the norms that have been set by society it takes courage to live for yourself as per your terms and conditions. It takes courage to once live for your dreams and the life you want.
We are so engrossed chasing money that we forget there's no harm to slow down in life, there is no harm waiting for the opportunity and there's no harm to be there for your family and spend. Savings will follow, the money will come to you at the right time. In my point of view, it's really important to know where to spend money because that would motivate and make you realize from where you need to earn money.
Money can't buy us everything, it can't put a smile on our face, it probably can help you buy things that would bring a smile on your face but a temporary one. It can't buy you time when you're at the last stage of your life to spend some time with your family.
There was a time where barter trade existed, where people would trade grains or something which they had in ample to get something that they wanted. Money was never a matter of concern then, there was peace because you were not doing different things to get the things you wanted. It was comparatively a satisfying and more fulfilling life than what it is now.
Here I don't mean that we don't need to earn money, but definitely not at a cost where we regret not doing a few things that we wanted to. In my opinion, money is worthless without the importance that we give it. It's important to probably understand that we humans make money and money isn't making us. Like literally we humans are printing it.
