“Forget about the price tag”

Have you ever stopped for a minute and asked yourself what would make you happy? Like REALLY happy? Not the kind of happiness that will vanish an hour or a day later, I am talking about the real one? The one that will stay no matter how dark it is in your life or how bad thing are going? I know it can be tough some time but there are some people out there, like me, like you that make it through rough paths with that insane happiness I wish I could have sometimes.

It is so silly how today everything is about what we owe, everything material and we forget what is essential to our happiness. We are trying to put a price on everything; we are trying to evaluate how much money it will cost us to be happy. We have succeeded in convincing ourselves that money could buy it when in fact it doesn’t. Sure I would like to have money to be off the hook and avoid my banker to send me a letter every month to remind me that my bank account is overdraft. Of course I would like to never worry about my bills and have fun, buy some fancy stuff with my money because I can afford it. But the real question is: at the end of the day would I be happy? Speaking for my own self, I guess it would be no. I could have all those things but there are some precious and essential things that money can’t buy.

I have been for years a passionate of retail therapy and from my experience, there have been times where money was just not enough to make me happy. I would forget about my worries, my emotional issues when I was out shopping and swiping my card. I would feel good at the sight of all those things I would buy without even thinking sometimes. But then, I would go home and cry at night in my bathroom like a child because I just wasn’t happy despite everything I had.

Some people have been rich like shit and yet have been on all kinds of medications to be able to have somewhat of a peace of mind and some others to feel less depressed (not even happy… this is sad L ). Some families have been known has dynasties in the business world. From outside they are the image of the perfect and modern family but step into their world and you will be able to see how miserable their lives really are. Kids turning wild because the parents were never there when they needed them, parents missing the most important moments in the lives of their children because too busy running after money. In the worst scenario, kids turn out so spoiled they act like they are gods on earth because their parents are rich and feel like they don’t owe respect to anyone even to the people who gave birth to and raised them.

On the other hand, there are people that are rich too but all that money cannot buy them friends they can share their joys and memorable moments with. Some others are ridiculously rich, but don’t know what to do with it all that money they have and yet they don't want to share it because they still think it will one day make them happy. “I’d rather cry in a Ferrari than on the train” of course money can make our lives better but hey, if you are crying in the Ferrari you are probably not that happy (not to say your are just not happy). The beginning of happiness would be for us to stop putting a price tag on everything and focus on the most essential ones: love, appreciate every little moment of happiness with our loved ones, the wonderful friends we have and the time we are losing running after money … and many other things that we will be able to see once we will stop making money an obsession and associate it with happiness.