The Power of Money

Hello!

Today I wanted to voice my thoughts on such a huge concept, it’s impossible to even know where to begin…Money. Like many of us, I am not one without financial struggles but for some time, I have been concerned about what I see money doing to other people in my life.

From my experiences, money seems to warp and disturb the mind. Today, it is unfortunate that in the Western World, society is so saturated with consumerism and preoccupied with money. Financial worries are very real for many of us, whether supporting ourselves or families, there are endless bills and necessities that need to be paid. We spend our whole lives working to earn money to pay out money to survive. But life is about living.  Since when did money have such a hold over us?

I see so many people, and even those that are closest to me, miserable because of money. It seems happiness has become synonymous with having money. Some of my friends and family have been so disillusioned as to what happiness is, and it is so upsetting to see them miserable because “they have no money”. Whilst I can appreciate how troubling financial difficulties are, it shouldn’t dictate our lives.

Happiness is not dependent on money.

In fact, some of the best things life offers us are intangible, which you cannot put a price on. Family, relationships, love, memories, laughter – the things many of us hold closest to our hearts – are all available to us without a price. I often need a bit of a perspective rain check – as a reminder to count my blessing, rather than my woes.

As far as I’m concerned, social media does nothing to help the situation. Happiness often appears to be wrongly labelled as those new purchases you made, a three course meal at a posh restaurant, an all-inclusive holiday to some exotic paradise. Appealing as this sounds, if we can’t afford these things, does this mean that happiness cannot exist? We exhibit the power of money all over Instagram when we shamelessly post photos of all these materialistic “mini pieces of happiness”. Where are the photos of two friends laughing, or a beautiful sunrise? We need more of these!

We find pleasure and happiness in the opportunities and lives that we make for ourselves. I want to learn to follow life by this rule more often. I don’t want to be driven by money, but at the same time I don’t want to be limited.

I suppose I am being a little bit contradictory in this post. I am encouraging myself, and anyone reading this who is feeling bogged down with money worries, to embrace the things in life that are free (and there are many of them!) But at the same time, as a note to myself, I am not going to stop myself from doing things because of a lack of money. Now this is all within reason, I’m not condoning any sort of reckless spending, but if I need money to say YES to more things, then by doing it, I am it will reap its own rewards in the future.

This post was primarily for myself, and to share the battle I am facing to encourage my loved ones to try and open their eyes to the tainted happiness they are helplessly aspiring to have. At the same time, I really hope this might ignite thoughts or a ‘perspective rain check’ in anyone reading this.

SPREAD HAPPINESS 🙂

Jasmine x