I'm not rich and famous.
But I can relate to this quote.
You see, being unemployed/semi-retired. There's a lot of free time. And free time is harsh on the mind.
It's not all fun and games having nothing much to do. Especially when I first left my job.
Sure if you have all the money in the world, you can travel and play and eat and do a lot of things in your free time, but I don't have all the money in the world so I can't play and keep myself entertained all the time.
And the thing is, being jobless for long periods of time, I think it's necessary to be comfortable in your own skin. To be aware and contented with your/my own self.
No one ever tells you about this mentality.
Everyone just tells you to work hard and earn more money and people expect that the answers will come naturally when you have money.
So everyone works hard and strives hard, cos that's what everyone wants right? Being rich and/or famous is glamorous and you can buy whatever you want.
So people search for answers, to find their purpose in life, and they just follow the path everyone else is walking on.
And what happens at the end?
Most people don't make it rich and famous. So they usually just feel that they just haven't made it yet, and once they've made it, then everything will come. They will be happy and have all the answers.
Then there's the people who actually get rich and/or famous.
And when that happens they realize they still don't find the answer? Cos life just goes on as it is.
They don't come out and proclaim loudly, "There's no answer! There's no need to be rich and famous!"
No! They let the illusion continue. Can't be letting everyone know I worked so hard for nothing right?
So they smile at cameras and wave at fans and act all happy and "living it up".
Read previous article about this here.
And since many of us don't have access to the rich and famous.
So we always look towards them and think, "Wow, so lucky, if only I was..."
In the end, the people who got rich and famous, don't share the info that being rich and famous really isn't all that great.
Also, the not rich won't believe it anyway cos it's easy to fix on the usual path that everyone chooses, which is to just work and try to earn more money.
I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there's a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that.
But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it's the same hamburger.
--Bill Gates
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054763/Once-million-dollars-hamburger-Bill-Gates-says-billionaire-overrated.html
How much more can you eat right?
Being rich and famous... still doesn't remove all the other insecurities within oneself.
It only removes the financial difficulties.
But, how many of us are living with financial difficulties? Not many. And yet, we always think that something is missing, I just need to get over the next hill to find what is missing, and if I don't find it, I'll go over the next hill again, and the next, and the next.
But the answer is not over the hill. It's exactly where we stand.
Similarly, there are some people who decide to undergo liposuction.
But after they remove the fat, and are thin, their insecurities are still there.
Cos their minds have not caught up with the changes in their bodies.
They are not slim like they have always wanted to be. But their minds are still insecure or unhappy cos their minds are still in the "fat" state.
So once again, if everything is in the mind, then the actual physical self isn't that important for mental well-being. If a person can be happy and confident and try to exercise, then being fat or thin doesn't really matter.
Similarly, being rich or not rich, it doesn't really matter to overall happiness.
The answer is not in the money.
It's like when some people say, "I want to be ready before I have a kid."
More often than not, people will never be ready before they have a kid.
You just have a kid and improvise along the way.
I think it's similar to the above quote. Cos if people want to have a kid, then they should just have a kid and not think too much, cos everything will work out as time goes along. Unless they have financial difficulties then probably they might want to get stable before having kids.
Similarly, for financial security and happiness...
It's not about getting super rich and famous. Happiness doesn't come from the money.
More often than not, people accumulate their money slowly. So they get used to the amount they are earning.
So if I earned $3k... I get used to earning and spending $3k and I go about my life thinking that more money would be better.
1 year later, I earn 10% more. I'm happy but it's still not a lot $3,300... and I go about my life thinking that more money would be better.
Another year later... 10% more... $3,630...
So after around 10 years, I might now earn $10,000 per month.
That's very high already.
But year on year... I would have had the same mentality... I'd tell myself "I'm happy but it's still not a lot, and I go about my life thinking that more money would be better."
Cos even after 10 years, usually the mentality doesn't change. Lifestyles are upgraded, but the mentality is always "money isn't enough" more will be better.
And many people don't realize that they are already in a very good position in life and they SHOULD already be happy and have all the tools to do so.
But cos they always think about what's over the next hill, that they forget to enjoy what they have where they stand.
In the end, the answer lies within ourselves.
Related article is here, about happiness being a decision.
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