The more you get, the less you want…

I have this particular philosophy about money and material things: the more you get, the less you want. The basic idea I have is that the more money I make, the less important material things seem to get in life. It’s a bit funny, really. When I was younger, and less financially-able, I seemed to want so many things (ex. a nicer car, all the latest gadgets and the ability to eat anywhere I want and travel anywhere I want); as I got older and made enough to really be able to afford most of these things, I found out that buying them didn’t seem as fun anymore.

It’s as if part of the satisfaction was in the struggle. If I didn’t have much, then those things that were out of my financial reach seemed to be so desirable, perhaps more because a part of me needed to feel good about myself rather than because it had any particular meaning to me. Once I could afford most of these things, the thrill of buying them seemed to diminish. I had less and less urgency, and the thought of buying what once seemed unreachable got kind of… boring? I don’t know any other way to describe it. It just seems less interesting somehow.

That’s when I realized that the purpose of wealth isn’t to buy everything you want; wealth, instead, is meant for you to KNOW you can buy anything you want… that way, you don’t need to feel like you need something to validate you. You can just move on to other challenges, because this one has already been achieved. For example, a few years back, I really liked the idea of flying business or first class. It felt like such a status symbol, I guess, and the idea of flying in greater comfort, with better food and better service, just seemed so much more appealing. Now that I CAN fly anywhere in the world on any class, it seems to be much less exciting for me. In fact, I honestly find myself choosing economy with much greater satisfaction than I ever had before. Why? Because I didn’t HAVE to fly economy. I now CHOSE to fly economy. Does that make any sense?

I guess money should be viewed more as a great "enabler" of dreams, rather than a dream in itself. When we can’t even have some of the "basic" things we see others have (ex. an iPod), we tend to feel a bit diminished, I guess. It’s as if we have somehow failed ourselves because we didn’t give ourselves as much as others give themselves; as if we somehow weren’t "good enough" for whatever social circles we deemed necessary to be a part of. But once we get enough money to achieve just about any dream we used to have… our dreams no longer seem as fulfilling. I dread to think what Bill Gates thinks of at night. After all, when you find you can afford literally anything you want, what more is there for you to want?

So now I find much more satisfaction in things I CAN’T buy: making my friends and family happy; finding inner peace and contentment; and even small things such as setting a good example for the kids in my academy. Money just doesn’t hold that much meaning anymore, to be honest. Each month I watch my money grow, I just think "Ok… I can buy more things, but what’s my next great adventure going to be? How am I REALLY going to make a difference in life?" It’s even affected my thoughts on things like charity and how I interact with people I consider underprivileged and less fortunate in life. In the past, I’d just give money to beggars on the street and/or the usual charities and barely give a second thought to the people I thought I was helping. Now I find that volunteering my time to actually do things for these people directly, meeting them face-to-face and learning about their lives and trying hard to show them you honestly CARE about them rather than about getting rid of them is a heck of a lot more fulfilling. Of course I still give money… after all, these people do have material needs that need to be met; but I no longer think that giving money absolves me of any future responsibility for them and to them. I have realized that these people don’t want to be needy; they don’t really want to have to need your money. They’d rather have enough to just get along with their lives, to live with dignity and respect, to be able to hold their heads up high and to look their children in the eye and say "Don’t worry… we’ll be ok." It’s really not the money they want. The money is just a means to that better end. Now that I see this in my own life, I treat them a lot better than I used to, and I say a silent prayer in shame for all the people I just ignored along the way.

I guess the irony of it all is that, in seeking to make the money that would enable me to buy all the things I thought would make me better, I found out that I didn’t want the same things anymore. I found out that I didn’t even want money the same way anymore. I’m just grateful that I now have enough money to buy anything I want, because now I can isolate the material things from those that are REALLY important in life, the things you really can’t buy no matter how much money you have. I don’t have any real need to buy things anymore, because the real purpose of buying things is to make yourself happy, and I find I’m already quite happy, thank you. 🙂 The other stuff just clutters my perspective. After all, once you’ve found the most perfect sight in the world, even the nicest car in the world would just be something that blocks your view.

Have a great day everyone! 🙂