> In short, if you want to feel happy about your life, hang out around people who earn less.
This doesn't match my experience at all. I feel best when I'm around those who are equal to me (in both income and wealth, because income alone is kind of less interesting).
It's an empathy/social norms thing. I work about half the year, sometimes less, and spend the rest of the year on a mix of personal projects and travel.
Explaining that to someone who works a checkout 50 hours a week, who learns their rota a week out, and might have a few weeks off in a year, is frustrating. (I was there, once).
It doesn't make me feel lucky - it makes me feel that most people are in a terrible place - it makes me unwilling to engage socially for fear of appearing an out of touch prat (the reality is that I'm almost too in-touch...!)
This doesn't match my experience at all. I feel best when I'm around those who are equal to me (in both income and wealth, because income alone is kind of less interesting).
It's an empathy/social norms thing. I work about half the year, sometimes less, and spend the rest of the year on a mix of personal projects and travel.
Explaining that to someone who works a checkout 50 hours a week, who learns their rota a week out, and might have a few weeks off in a year, is frustrating. (I was there, once).
It doesn't make me feel lucky - it makes me feel that most people are in a terrible place - it makes me unwilling to engage socially for fear of appearing an out of touch prat (the reality is that I'm almost too in-touch...!)