It’s not all about money

In the society we are living in today, a creation of our own selves, nothing seems to be scandalous anymore. The recent confessions of celebrities about their lifelong battles with depression suggest that money and limelight is not a solution to every problem. The main problem with money is that if you don’t have it, you want to have it. If you have it, you want it even more. And once you succeed in reaching your desired quotient, you start living in an eternal fear as you believe everybody is being good to you, because they are trying to conquer your world.

The reason why we hesitate to reveal our financial details to our close ones is probably because of the fact that we equate money with value. Where money just holds an economic position in the material world, values seem to be the basis of all the prime institutions of our society. Money and values shouldn’t be judged on the same parameters.

Another common feature of mid-life crisis that many of us face is the thought that our lawyer or doctor friend is probably better than us as he is making money every hour. In this particular circumstance, we are equating money with happiness. It is true that money can buy you pretty much the best of anything in the world, but it can’t put a natural, uncontrolled smile on your face. Maybe it can, but once you discover your inner key to joy, you will realise that money is just one of the many things that make you a happy human being.

Today, we seek monetary benefit in every aspect of our lives. Marriages are solely based on financial dependency where guys, shockingly, commit to you only if you can support him in the ‘future’. In this material world, money seems to be taking over every single relationship we have. The key to successfully balance the pursuit of money is to treat it like any other need — and not just a ‘single’ need.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2015.