Totally feel this. I think all people should desire to be wealthy and to keep from being impoverished, but we should not define wealth and poverty simply in terms of our monetary wealth, or lack thereof.
People who have the love of family and friends, a clear conscience, health, their physical needs met, and thankful hearts, are far wealthier than a majority of people in this world who have a large number in their bank account.
Yet in our consumer world, people are continually thinking of their worth simply in terms of the money they have or the money they make. I’ve known many married working moms, who decided to leave the workforce and be homemakers, who constantly felt like their worth diminished because of the decrease in their wealth, not recognizing that the bond they had with their children, was growing stronger and greater, and didn’t recognize how incredibly valuable that truly was.
Note: I’m not saying working moms can’t have strong bonds with their children, I’m talking about specific situations where for them it was hindering their relationships, and their relationships improved but was at the cost of less money.
The social pressure to play the game, even when you don't need to, is so strong. It is way easier to be happy when you have money than when you don't, and it may be something close to necessary (I guess there's happy poor people) but not anywhere near sufficient. A lot of smart, driven people seem to lose sight of this.
Yeah there was a song by silverchair(?) saying ~ “money isn’t everything, but I’d like to see you try to live without it”. When money has been tight for us in the past, that itself brings stress. Though knowing we have great community, who we could rely on to not starve, to be clothed, and have a roof over our heads alleviates a lot.
I think a lot of times those who don’t have great community around them, are often the ones who will really chase money over other things, because the impact of not having it is so much higher for them.
Yet in our consumer world, people are continually thinking of their worth simply in terms of the money they have or the money they make. I’ve known many married working moms, who decided to leave the workforce and be homemakers, who constantly felt like their worth diminished because of the decrease in their wealth, not recognizing that the bond they had with their children, was growing stronger and greater, and didn’t recognize how incredibly valuable that truly was.
Note: I’m not saying working moms can’t have strong bonds with their children, I’m talking about specific situations where for them it was hindering their relationships, and their relationships improved but was at the cost of less money.