“When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.” Oscar Wilde.
Money is a strange concept: those who do not have it aim for it and those who do have it are full of apprehensions. But really, what is money? It is hard to define money, and agree on one single definition of it. We can make our lives easier if we understood what money really is:
Money: It’s a need
To be honest, there is little left that you cannot buy with money. Money is essential for survival if not for comfort. The comfort and luxury come only when you have more money than you need for surviving. Who doesn’t want a new car; an air-conditioned well-furnished house; trendy clothes and all the new gadgets and gizmos in town? Therefore, it is not the cause of everything wrong in our society, but it is a means of staying in society.
Money is all about control
It is easy to lose control whenever and wherever money is involved. Damaging factors such as greed, money lust, power can take control over the sanest of humans; especially, when the line between these factors and factors such as survival, expenses and comfort is thin. People want to match up, or to stay a step ahead of, the current lifestyle of their peers. This makes them lose their focus to fulfilling their hedonistic needs. What they don’t realize is that fulfilling hedonistic need is a trap of consumerism.
Dreams come true: because of money
Those who dream to make a fuss of money, fame and power need to realize that you can make money only if you have money. You need to be smart about money to reach a certain benchmark, and when you have attained that benchmark you can make your dream into a reality. It is not necessary, though that you dream only of dollars and cents, your dream can be internally rewarding rather than being financially beneficial, such as that of being a writer, artist, blogger and so forth. What you can do is not starve and enjoy such endeavors if you plan them out smartly and have a supplementary income balancing your primary income.
Easy to be a slave to money
It is easy to be a slave to money, especially when it can open gates of luxury and comfort for you. Consumerism is a tricky spider, which can trap you in its web. As I said earlier, money is all about being in control and using that control to make your dreams come true.
Budget: Track your expenses
You should be aware of how much you make and how much you are spending. You should also be making more than you can spend. Track down your expenses to see where you are spending the most and to cut that expense down, if necessary. The reason behind this is to make sure you have enough cash left over to invest in a nest and/or that you remain debt free.
Create a vision of yourself for yourself
Of course dreams are just dreams, you need them to be realistic enough so that they can be incorporated into a vision that you have built for yourself. The vision will help you set a timer on your activities, so that you can move on to the next step until you ultimately reach a desired state you have been aiming for from the beginning.
Money or Self-worth: difficult choice to make
If you ask any wise man in your circle, and anyone who has had experience with making money they will claim it is a mutually exclusive decision regarding self-worth and money. You cannot have them both at the same time, but making money is empowering, and therefore, if you make little money, you can be happy because the source of it increases your self-worth.
