All through my life I have wanted more! As a kid I can remember thinking "What would I spend €100 million on?", I actually wrote a list once when we were coming back from a family day out once to some children's amusement place like Butlins. I had a pencil and paper and i jotted it all down, houses, horses, an plane, and all I could think was "Wouldn't life be amazing if I had all these things?"
So that was probably 20 years ago.
These days its a very different story.
Would €100 million make a difference in my life? The simple answer is YES, of course it would, it would give me financial security, rid me of debt.
Do I crave being financially rich?
Absolutely not!
I don't dwell on money, I dont think about how grand life would be with it and I certainly dont let my work consume me to make more money.
A few points to clarify on this.
I run my own business. Why? because events happened in my life that made me think "You know what would make me happy, helping people."
So why dont I work for a charity?
I need money, as does everyone, I need it to survive, buy food and pay my living expenses, but I don't work crazy hours to earn it in excess.
My passion is health, Im not the healthiest person in the world and I dont claim to be. Decisions I made in the past like smoking, eating junk food, drinking, avoiding exercise had become habitual and these habits as much as you try to avoid them remain in your head and thoughts of these habits some times slip through and win, but most of the time rationality wins and I make the right decision, and this is an ongoing battle that will play out until I die.
With these thoughts and this experience I hope I can pass my experience an knowledge on to people more so than helping homeless people re-house. I have no experience with this so why do it. I, and everyone should play to their strengths.
I work to help people!
I was talking to a colleague a few weeks ago coming to an end of a busy week, and I told him im exhausted as the week has been so busy. His response was "Thats good man, at least you are making money." and I said "yeah, thats true." but all I was really doing was brushing off the response and accepting what he was saying as true, which for me it wasn't.
I value time!
What is the point in working 14 hours 16 hour 18 hour days and making all the money in the world if you don't have time to enjoy life.
In Japan, they have a very strict work ethic, everyone values work, everyone works crazy hours, you don't stop until the job is done! They are efficient, rich, and exhausted.
The Japanese have a word, "Karoshi", this is a common word that I assume that no other language possibly has. "Karoshi" means "death from overworking." People are literally dropping dead from exhaustion as they worked and do not rest or switch off. Their hearts literally stopping.
Not the type of life I would like to live.
So what is privilege?
The definition is...
1. Enjoying a privilege or having privileges: a privileged childhood; privileged society.
2. Confined to an exclusive or chosen group of individuals: privileged information.
So you enjoy certain things, and belong to a certain group of people.
The common perception is people with money, they have nice things and enjoy a lavish lifestyle. They never have to worry about money.
Paris Hilton, lives of her family's wealth, drinks champagne, parties, eats good food, wears nice clothes and good on her. If that makes her happy then she is priviliged.
But I think there is a spectrum related to this.
If you had €100 million, you could easily live out your days, without a care in the world, but do people with money live without a care in the world? No...
Situations may occur that cause stress, Take Paris Hilton as an example. One of her family homes was recently raided by the DEA in America where Million of dollars in drugs was seized, thats pretty stressful. A private sex tape was released which would bring shame on her from her family and bring negative light in the public eye, that would bring anyone to tears. And im sure many other stressful things in her life happen.
If you had €400 a week could you live the rest of your life without a care in the world? No...
Again situations occur that add problems and stress to your life. You car breaks down, but your pay does not cover the €600 bill for repairs,
Children get ill, you may not know if your job is stable.
Your financial situation has nothing to contribute to your happiness. Possibly more so it contributes to sadness and depression.
What about social status?
Being famous, hell everyone appreciates a little love. In my work when someone tells me how much the appreciate how I help them its more rewarding than any penny I have ever made. It makes me happy and I remember it more.
Example.
One Monday in July a client paid me €30 for a session, I dont remember it, I just know it happened.
I got a text a few days ago from a client that said "I really appreciate everything you have done for me, you have changed my life and I will always be a healthier, happier and more confident person because of it!"
That level of praise made more impact on me than money. It made doing what I do worthwhile. Like I said, I do this job to help people, If I have not helped people Im doing it wrong and that trickle of information that someones life is better because of me is a massive boost to my own morale.
Im not famous but my social status among my clients is high and rewarding.
Famous people may have the same sense of fulfillment, lots of them are involved with Charity or a singer may get the same reaction when someone tells them they love their music, which is great!
Social status recognized for how much credit your bank balance is showing is literally an insane concept to me.
Now Im not saying people with more money are better than me or anyone else, but is that not how we are portrayed in society. The elite are rich and the poor are at the bottom of the scale.
People with less tend to not be as suspicious, they are not protecting anything, because they have nothing to protect.
Check out the video of this in practice!
Its INSANE!
Imagine if the worlds elite was based on how much they help.
Say for example, we praised the worlds biggest philanthropists as much as we praised and worshiped the worlds biggest actors and singers.
Girls didn't want to be like Beyoncé but Mother Theresa (Im not saying be completely like mother Theresa) but they wanted to help people in need. How much better would the world be!
I am Privileged!
I look at my life, what do I have? Am I rich? Absolutely!
I have a Family,
I have friends
I have enough to live comfortably,
I can eat every day
I help people and affect lives,
I am healthy
I get to experience different things
I am free to do as I wish
People care about me...
Do I NEED anything else... What do you think?
Do you need anything else?
Forget about the money, forget about the general concept of being popular, focus on what important and what is important will come to you.