Money Really Can’t Buy Happiness
But poverty will certainly make you miserable
So much of our culture is propped up on the idea that money will make or break your happiness and well-being. We chase money, we crave money, we idolize money, we expend a tremendous amount of energy trying to get the money we need, just so we can save money, spend money, and give money to those we care about. Money is a central focal point of about anything you want to do in every single society on earth. But how often do we conflate that with happiness? How often do we conflate money itself with the substance of what we’d like to do with money, missing the forest for the trees?
I spent a lot of my life viewing money in all the wrong ways. I used to view money as that thing I needed to get other things which is how society teaches us effortlessly to view it. But soon I began using a lack of money as an excuse for not having things in my life that don’t cost money. Happiness was one of those things, a great and fulfilling relationship was another. If you’re a man, raise your hand if you’ve ever convinced yourself that you’ll go find a partner and secure a happy, healthy, loving relationship — but only after you’ve gotten the money you needed to secure a loving partner first. How backward is that?
