
Originally Posted by
ManyRoses
"There is plenty of time to enjoy it later".
Be careful with that mindset. It can really, really hurt you. After all, you don't take the money with you. You can't buy friends, or loved ones, or good relationships with family. It's a cliche, but it is true - money won't buy you happiness.
I offer up the example of my mum, who is a good, and fairly typical Scottish woman, who considers money something to be saved, not spent, and who spent her entire life working her ass off, not spending, saving away - all so that one day, she could retire with her husband, enjoy all the money they had worked so hard for, and relax and spend it. She had plans to re-build her dream home, get a personal trainer, enjoy life to the absolute fullest. And what happened? Her husband left her. In fact, he left her because he got so tired of being with someone who was always saving for the future, and couldn't just relax and enjoy the now. There are other things, of course, but the great irony of it all is that he got most of the money that SHE had worked so hard to save, and the golden days that she had spent 30years working for were lost.
Or, another example - a friend of mine from high school. Another lovely girl, but one who was all about saving it up - working your fingers to the bone NOW and then enjoying the rewards later. She basically didn't have a social life through high school, because she was working on her grades. Then she went to university, and basically did the same thing. She busted her ass to become a lawyer, and basically put her life on hold until she could become one. Then, a year or so after she actually qualified and started working - she got cancer. Luckily, amazingly, she pulled through, but she nearly died before she could enjoy the life she worked so hard for.
At the end of the day, I think that it can be too easy to say that you will work like mad, and then enjoy it all "later", but the risk is that there won't BE a later. There has to be a balance - a way to push yourself, and to work hard and make enough to build good savings - and to spend smart - finding ways to enjoy life without being a total wastrel.
I wonder about these girls who are earning 10K a week, but working 7days a week, for 15-20 hours. Not just in this industry - I feel kind of sad thinking about ANYONE working ANY job that many hours. I mean - you work 16 hours a day, and basically have time to have a quick bite and a short sleep...and that is IT.
Would I love to make 32K in a week? Of course! Would I ever think it was worth losing time with my friends, my family, my animals, my health, or just enjoying the world? Nope. Not even if I said "I'll do this for 6months and then take 3 years off on the proceeds"...because I've had my own brushes with death, and I know that you can't count on 6months from now happening.
That sounds really negative - oops. It's not meant to be. I guess I just wanted to say that, well, money really isn't that important. And putting your life on hold to earn enough for "later" can bite you in the ass.
Enjoy your life NOW - earn enough to make you happy, and don't make your job your entire life! There is so much more exciting stuff out there than just working away all day every day for money.
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