Introduction

I've recently joined Steemit, much thanks to my good friend @heimindanger. I made my introduction post 2 days ago, and it's been pretty fun interacting with the few Steemians who commented on it.

Since then I've been thinking of what I should do for my first post, and I had some ideas but wasn't sure if you guys would be interested in reading my content. SO, I cracked a grand plan which is to build my first post around a topic that's interesting to most people (clickbait!), and we'll see how things go from there. Steem is a pretty great platform, and to show my faith in it, I'm powering up all my posts 100%.

If you read my introduction post, you'd know that I'm someone who lives pretty comfortably. I run a number of online businesses and I'm able to work from anywhere in the world as long as I have an internet connection, so most of the time I just do whatever I want and it's been pretty great for the past couple of years.

Right now, I'm in a peaceful town in France, helping a friend renovate his house. Here's a pic of the countryside I snapped yesterday -

http://i.imgur.com/o0NKJpS.jpg

Moving on!!

To me, money...

Means a lot of things, and recently I've found myself thinking more about money. I used to think that I'd be happy with earning say... $10,000 a month, but it's never truly enough isn't it? I'd get bored with just sitting around doing nothing.

Money just happens to be a unit of measurement I use to gauge whether or not my business is doing well, so I think about it quite often. At the end of the day, if customers are buying and revenue is growing, it's good for me! Every change I make to my website(s), I make with the goal in the mind of converting more customers, and to ultimately make more money.

On one hand it might be greed, but on another it's always good to aim higher and shoot for bigger goals. It's the only way to grow as a person, if you're constantly moving and improving. Change is very important for growth.

So... onto the big question for myself and everyone -

Can money buy happiness?

It depends on who you are as a person, and what you enjoy doing. If you like traveling and fine dining, then sure, money might buy you happiness. If you're someone who's happy with just the simple things in life, money will just add unwanted complication to your life. So it really depends on what kind of person you are.

There's this meme on the internet where people agree that it's better to cry in a Lamborghini than on a bicycle. I think it basically means they'd rather lead a sad life with a lot of money, than a sad and mediocre one.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/1e/0c/eb/1e0ceb56b7ec7e454eb2f5fbc7e47193.jpg

It is pretty funny, and I guess I would agree that if I was going to be sad either way, I'd choose to live a life of bitter luxury.

Now, I know many of you would be chiding me for thinking that “money is everything”, but contrary to what you would think after reading my post this far, I’m someone who firmly believes that money doesn’t mean much. My personal answer to this question is a resounding "NO". Money by itself will not buy you happiness.

Money... is just money

I know of many people who have a lot of it but still don’t lead as fulfilling a life as I do. They just go to work everyday and collect a big paycheck at the end of the month. I also know of friends who have less money than me, and every time I meet them, they're all smiles and overall enjoying life as much as I do.

There is no real value to money. By itself, it’s just a piece of paper. If one day, everyone simultaneously decided that they would stop using money and instead started trading food and necessities for items, work, and human effort, money would instantly lose all its perceived value. The only value that money has is the value that we place on it.

https://media.giphy.com/media/94EQmVHkveNck/giphy.gif

But wait, don’t cry just yet! Of course, I’m not saying that we should all throw away our money. Perceived value is still value. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that money isn’t important, because it is. As long as the majority of the human race place value in money, we can continue to use it as a tool or an instrument to help us achieve our goals in life.

Money itself doesn't bring you happiness, but what you do with it that matters

Just don't be the kind of person who only thinks of money as something they can use to buy “stuff”. To spend on their new car, new Rolex, new Chanel bag, or whatever the hell people are buying nowadays. This is just materialism.

Well, not everyone who has the goal of making money is like this, I’m only saying that based on my experience and personal interactions. It’s very common to hear someone say “I can’t wait for this month’s big commission so I can finally get that new watch I’ve been saving up for”, or something along those lines.

It’s always good to reward yourself with something nice every now and then, especially after working hard to earn your wage, but remember to also invest your money into assets and meaningful experience. I think most Steemians should already have this down since you've joined the platform and started to invest your time/money here.

It's all about how you choose to spend your time and money. I'm currently at some small town in France, helping my friend renovate his house. He's not paying me for the work (he buys the food and alcohol to keep us happy), but it's a great chance for me to take a break from business/work matters, and I'm having a real blast sweating and getting messy everyday.

Here are some pics -

http://i.imgur.com/Tlwaiy2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1xVHqbo.jpg

Conclusively

I don't claim to know the right answer to this question, and maybe there isn't one, but here's what I think -

If you start thinking of money as a tool to help you progress further in life. I'm sure you'll find that elusive happiness somewhere along the way. Focus on what you enjoy doing, and who knows, you might find yourself happier than you were before even if you're making less money. Even better, leverage on your strengths and you might even be able to make money from doing what you love.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, please feel free to comment your thoughts. Even if you disagree with me and wanna call me a stupid cunt, it's an open forum!

---

If you like reading my content, please follow me so you won't miss out on my next post.

I'm thinking of doing a post on "Leverage" next, as I think it's one of the most important aspects in life to seeing success, epsecially if you want to take advantage of the 80/20 rule. At least, it was for me and it has worked out so far so I would like to share my experience.

Cheers, everyone!

https://media.giphy.com/media/G2YYl02LrF5Vm/giphy.gif