A hard pill to swallow - How I look at money
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The way I see it is quite simple. If I get lucky, If I eat right, become more physically active and what have you. I might be able to reach 75 years of age. At the heels of 40, that number does not seem too far away anymore. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experiences this change in perception, but time has either speed up or my ability to collect memories has gotten a little more inefficient as time has progressed.
Added to this perceptual change, I'm told by those who are a lot smarter than me, that the average human spends about a third of his life sleeping. Another third is spent driving to a job, showering, doing meetings, in other words doing someone else's bidding. Having only one third to truly practice personal freedom. I happen to find that reality, that outlook somewhat depressing.
Because, as much as I can understand the system of values and the efficiency it proposes for society. I don't see anything remotely close to relevance and purpose that inspires existence. I grant you, that sounds somewhat tragic, it even sounds as if I'm unwilling to be flexible. But, attempting to be honest about what I've seen and what I've experienced while participating of the system, I find myself understanding more and more the concepts of nihilism. The negative ideas that are evoked by one single question - "What for?"
If I'm to analyze my life with this lense, and understand the value of my time as precious, truly precious. Then what I do or not do starts to have costs that are not easy to calculate with any type of excel sheet I can think of. In other words, giving my time to a cause that is not my own for a specific amount of dollars, should take into consideration the time I'm losing in pursuit of that "financial security" - and please, note the quotation marks.
So what am I to deduce from this? Does it not seem like making 30, 40 dollars an hour while at the same time reducing my already scarce one third of life like I'm giving someone a ridiculous bargain, as if I'm selling my biggest asset, my time, my lifeforce, for nothing.
Of course the answer is personal, and maybe to other people the job they have, the purpose of the mission sort of speak is not too relevant because they value financial security above all. To me, that is a hard pill to swallow, because I don't really know when I get to clock out, because I'm spending the one thing I can't get back my life in a gamble that does not show me all the cards.
That's why when I think about money, the abstract concept of money, that is. I think of the real cost I'm willing to pay to acquire the security I know is not all that safe. Tomorrow I could be gone from this world and the sun would still rise and the moon would still shine. But, there is something I do seek in my journey. A sense of peace, and a sense of purpose.
If I can achieve that while also gain financial fortitude, then I'm willing to pay the cost. I'm willing to turn in my time in exchange for purpose and relevance. Does that make me an idealist? Maybe, but I'm also practicing honesty and in that sense it feels liberating.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to not worry about how I'm going to pay the bills next month just like everyone else. But more importantly, I'm a lot more concerned with the one or two footprints I get to leave behind. I'm more concerned of what I get to do, or not do with that one third I truly get to live.
Audio Recording - Ideas that became this post
Other posts by yours truly
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• Presidential Candidate running on a UBI Platform - 2020
• Hiding under a Bridge - Crazy Swamp Adventure
• An open letter to my fellow helpienauts
• ETFs on the Horizon - Gold all over again?
Everyone of us has to do the things we gotta do just to get by. The work, the sleep, the daily grind.
That's what brings the nihilism on, and with nihilism comes depression.
But inside all of us there is a candle that burns away all that nihilism, if we light it. It is whatever dream we carry, whatever special thing we want to achieve, for others and for ourselves. If you have a project inside you, the nihilism won't get you. The nihilism is just another obstacle standing between you and your project, an obstacle to be overcome by dreaming.
This blockchain is a worldchanging dream, the first still-in-beta mass attempt to break social networks out of centralised manipulative control. Everyday you post here, you are part of a shared dream, that swats away nihilism like a fly.
Steem may be just one step on the road to this freedom, but like Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier was a necessary step before man could go to the moon, you are right now dreaming the first steps of a dream that will create a better future for mankind.
Every day a little project, every day a dream. The grind is background noise. :)
You might just win comment of the month here my friend, this was so on point, I'm inclined to bring you a helpie upvote.
Aww, kind response, man! :)
Your audio recording seems to be lost or corrupted, mate
it could be a cookie thing...
this link doesn't work either?
https://soundcloud.com/meno/how-i-see-money/s-OoeMT
Real talk man. Love it.
Time and money is what it all comes down to.... How much time will it take / do I have to do it - how much will it cost / what does it pay. The older I get the more I choose experiances and time with people over gadgets and vices.
As always - thanks for your thoughts / the good read. All the best.
E.
The little gadgets we collect. I've written quite a bit lately about that futile task (to me its futile).
Cheers mate, thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Sweet post buddy. Money is a constant worry for most people including over thinkers , I am presuming you fit this criteria. However I am trying to be more liberal with my time and less worried about money. Case in point I am going to the US for 2 weeks in Sept can I afford it? Not really ...Will I be more in debt ? ...Yes . So why am I doing it ? . Cause I feel some unknown force in me saying go have fun . This post only re-enforced this so Thank you !!!
If more of us learned to listen to that voice a little more right?
I think it would make smiling much easier.
Wait until you get to 60 and you're still looking at this basic life issue....
I gave that 1/3rd of my life away to people who didn't give one single damn about me as a person. I was just a part in their machine that made them money, usually lots of money. In return for giving them basically 1/3rd of my life, I received a bare minimum wage that allowed me to live like a peasant. No financial security in that at all. Living from pay check to pay check, hand to mouth...you get the basic idea. The most I've ever made at a job was 10 bucks an hour, and that was 4 years ago, before I was forced to retire by a blown out back from lifting so much heavy stuff for "the man".
Yes, there is a hint of bitterness in my tone...
However, it was what it was, and that's all it was.
At the bottom where we peasants live, financial scraps are better than homelessness...
Sometimes I wonder what I would have done with my time if working for money was unnecessary to be able to live at a basic level...
Oh Amber, but yet... here you are. It's not too late, not at all.
I relate to your sentiments because I feel them too. Hence why I'm so reluctant to taking one single step backwards.
word amber
Money is a problematic topic for me personally and so do 9-5 works.
At times like the current, I feel like entire financial structure serves no other purpose than entertaining itself and creating growing borders between those that do and those that do not have money at their disposal.
You are not alone, brother! It's all one big game - and each of us has to figure out how we want it to end up, and when... Thereafter, a plan must be set in motion to win one's personal definition of said game.
i think capitalism is a sickness as it is today. it uses people as virtual slaves to create wealth for the ten percent. theres a lot of days i struggle to do more than exist. and thats not good enough. we need to reevaluate what kind of world we need to live in.
Because I'm somewhat of that mindset is that I'm here attempting to participate of the rebellion.
haha yes me too. it even seems that im doing a laurel and hardy routine in the midst of it..
For me, personally, there are two things that will prevent me from embracing nihilism. The first is a need for new knowledge. I need to know everything and accumulating knowledge is my prime directive. The second is having a child. Having children really changes your perspective on things. Nobody ever looks at their children and thinks, "Why should I keep feeding them? They are just going to grow old and die anyway."
You are very correct my friend. Accumulation of knowledge is my only drive at the moment since I've not been blessed with kids. That being said I can totally see how having one would change absolutely everything about me.
yasss thanks you sir. If people realized their true worth and started demanding it we would be in a very different place
could not agree more.