I am a very ambitious person, I have dreams, goals and those have been a big part of taking me to where I am now. Those goals are sometimes related to experiences, to things that I would like to do or see, to accomplishments that I’m working on, to goals I”d like to accomplish. Over time, I’ve started to realize that while it’s not true that money does help to reach happiness, it is certainly a dangerous trap at the same time.
Some of the best moments of my life were spent travelling or living abroad, getting married, seeing a live show or sporting events with a few close friends, etc. Many did not require much if any money. But others did. As much as I love travelling and discovering the world, that does come at a price.. I often try to figure out what I should be striving for.
Having enough to live those memorable experiences, being able to save to not worry much about money or my about my retirement and taking care of my loved ones. All of that comes to some extent in contradiction with living a simple, minimalist life.
Not Striving For The Top Of The Mountain
There will always be someone richer than me. Even knowing that, it’s easy to get caught in the game of trying to always make more. No wonder those making $50,000 feel like making $100,000 is being rich while those at 100K often think they would feel rich with 200K, etc. It’s a mountain that most of us keep climbing without ever feeling like we’ve reached the summit. I’m doing my absolute best to keep that in mind at all times.
Instead of striving for the ultimate top, I strive to make enough to accomplish my main goals, trying to not get caught up in always being unsatisfied. It’s good to work on becoming a better person but I’ve really tried to take notice of everything that I do have.
Being Thankful
I already have a lot and instead of always trying to look at what more I would like, would want or strive to have, I try to take time to appreciate everything that I already do have, all of those moments, my friends and family, my wife and the baby that will soon join us. It’s so easy to get caught up but isn’t a big part of being actually appreciating what we already have?
