At 24, I gave away everything to start fresh.
I had approximately $25,000 in my bank 4 months back, 5000$ in stocks and 200$ cash in my wallet. I won’t say I had a mid-life crisis or something because that is definitely not what this was. Nor am I mentally unstable to do such a thing. lol
My mentor always told me, if you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. It’s just how you look at it. I had my fair share of stress and depression to know that this was not it either.
But this is what happened to my wealth.
I sent $10,000 to my mom and told her she can do whatever she wants with it. She did exactly what I expected her too. Nothing.
$5,000 was sent to dog animal shelters. I lost my dog of 15 years and this was probably the best way to honor and remember him.
$5,000 was sent to 5 athletes preparing for the upcoming Olympics. Some whom I really looked up to and followed for some time. I made sure that these athletes really could use the funds given to them. I used Amex gift cards to send it to them.
I moved into a new apartment so some of the remaining balance was spent on getting new stuff, paying previous bills from the old place and paying new bills in advance.
I did not liquidate the stocks as the market was bad anyway so I think even if it doesn’t yield any profit, I wouldn’t care about it much either. Gave/threw away 60% of my entire wardrobe too.
Why do this? I can give a million reasons for this but sadly I won’t. It wasn’t a shitload of amount either. People can always make money in some way or the other. But the reasoning of all this is a story for another day.
People might also respect you for the amount of money you own. You can certainly grow your reputation by becoming rich but at the end of the day, reputation is always what people think about you. Character is who you really are.
I was troubled by everything going around me and so I decided to take a step back and see what I was doing.
“It’s only after we’ve lost everything, that we’re free to do anything”
The way I see it, I have a lot to gain than to lose. Recently, I saw the youtube video of “TechLead” where he quotes…
Stability is an illusion created by society to protect us from the chaos of the universe. If we can harness the pain into strengths, we are on the verge of becoming legends.
On Halloween night, a good friend of mine living nearby asked me if I would be interested to go out with her. I told her exactly how much I had in my bank account and needless to say, things did not lead anywhere.
I see this as a new beginning.

