Quote:
Originally Posted by HejiraNYC
Well, I don't think being interested in money necessarily equals being materialistic. And I think it would be intellectually dishonest for anyone living in the western world, on the grid, to claim to be totally unaffected by the behavior of money; whether we want to admit it or not, it affects every aspect of our lives. That old saying about the two definites in life- death and taxes- is not for nothing. And in many cases it is about life and death, especially in the States where access to critical medical care sometimes depends on ones ability to pay out of pocket.
For me, ones relationship with money is almost as fascinating as ones relationships with people (and I stress interesting vs. important). It tells a lot about a persons values (both literally and figuratively!) as well as their attitudes about life in general. Some people have very healthy relationships with money; for others it can be downright destructive, e.g., compulsive gambling, compulsive shopping, compulsive hoarding, etc. Too much (old) money can make children unmotivated and entitled, while too little money can make people do irrational things to save a buck (like driving 20 miles to save a nickel/gallon on gas).
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My attitude towards money, careers, and success stems directly from my upbringing. My Father was a corporate climber who made it to the top, made
quite a princely salary, but never had any time to enjoy the fruits of his labors. We're talking the man was in his office by 7am and didn't get home until 7pm... where he promptly had dinner, then went into his study to work until he went to bed at 11 or 12. He worked in his study and sometimes at his office throughout the weekends, too. My Dad lost decades of his life to that, and I've just never been interested in focusing my life on career climbing, trying to see how much money I can make, or how many baubles I can collect.
Of course we all have to have money to sustain ourselves, and we all have things we like to spend money on. But for me personally, I've always been much happier keeping my existence simpler that the average American consumer. I see so many people being slaves to fashion and labels, always partaking in the current "in" products and services, collecting massive amounts of crap which demands ever larger homes through their lives to store all that junk in, and I'm just like... no thanks. I'd rather work a less stressful and involving job, live in a humbler home, and keep my possessions pared so they're not an albatross around my neck.
For instance, one of my friends recently built himself a McMansion on 10 acres. He was my travel/daytrip/adventure buddy before that happened. Now he spends every freaking weekend cutting his 10 acres of grass, shopping to fill 4,000 square feet of house to the roof with crap he doesn't need and will never use, fixing shoddy work his builder bungled, etc. Not just that, he has to pay around $1,200 a month in utilities, too. He also has a giant BMW SUV for hauling all the crap he buys to his house, thus his car gets horrific gas mileage, and he no longer ventures very far from home. Meanwhile, I live in a 700 square foot apartment and could get in my economy car and drive to Montana right now and not have any repercussions or worries. I've never taken a job that demands anything from me after I left the building. I've always lived in apartments and/or condos so maintenance isn't something which dominates my time. To me, life is best enjoyed when you're away from work and demands so you can spend time with friends and family seeing and experiencing the world. That's just my personal way of doing things, and to each their own. Variety keeps life kooky and fun!
