Living Small, Slow, and Satisfied.

I just got back from a meeting with my accountant.

Yes. I have an accountant.

My big takeaway from this meeting is that there’s currently, in America, a threshold. If you make under $1,000,000/year your taxes are quite substantial.

If you make $1,000,000/year or over, your taxes are still quite substantial. But you can sustain them easier. It still sucks, but you still have a lot of money in your own pocket at the end of the day. (Assuming you’re somewhat fiscally responsible.)

Now, many people would react to this news like this: “Well I guess that means I have to make a million dollars then.”

And I’ll admit, I had a bit of that reaction in me…for a split second.

And then I just thought: I don’t want to make $1,000,000.

I don’t care that it would put more money in my pocket. I don’t care that it would mean the taxes would hurt less.

I only care about my well-being. My happiness.

And there are no scenarios in which I am envisioning myself where I make that much money without a TON of work.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not afraid of work. It’s not that I don’t want to work. It’s not that I want ANYTHING handed to me.

What I want is to slow down. What I want is to live. Really live.

And as I was thinking about this I realized. There’s no reason that I should have to make those amounts of money.

If the life I am trying to create falls outside the “norm” anyway, why should I measure my success the same way everyone else does?

I don’t need to live large. I don’t want the things many people dream of when they dream of being “rich”.

So yes, there will be more taxes taken out of my earnings. And yes, it will still stink, because I worked hard for that money.

But if I am living a small, slow, satisfied life, I don’t need the money anyway.

The money is no longer a marker of success or happiness, or wealth; it is simply a tool.

And when money is a tool, I can use it for things that tools are good at. I can buy things I truly need or will truly bring joy to my life, and I can go on trips and I can give to the charities that I believe in and I can do things that add real value to my life.

And when I pay my taxes it will just be another use of the tool.