Options. That’s what it really buys, isn’t it?
Money is the means to get access to the availability of options.
Money also buys you opportunities.
The saying that money does not buy happiness is an overrated term, its meaning not fully understood.
It is a way out of difficult situations, and to avoid being trapped in your circumstances.
It may not prevent you from being infertile genetically, but it affords you the ability to seek medical help, IVF, even surrogacy.
It affords you childcare and education for your children. A live-in nanny, a maid, or even the best daycare centers. It could even allow you the option of caring for your children yourself, never missing out on their milestones, and full autonomy on how to bring them up.
For a woman, it allows them to be independent of men and be able to form a life on their own should they choose not to get married.
It affords you good medical treatment for aging parents and young children, especially in situations where free healthcare is not accessible.
It may not necessarily mold your personality to become more authentic, but it affords you opportunities to build up your knowledge, abilities, and experiences by affording you a good education and opening your eyes to other cultures beyond your limited circle.
It is a way out from being trapped into a cycle of working for the need for survival, to put food on the table and a roof over you and your children’s heads.
It buys you more time, making conventional work an option instead of a need, and when you do not need to work for money anymore and you can choose to stop working and get your hours back to pursue other personal passions.
It enables you to become a giver, as you can afford to give and give more generously to those who can use the support.
It allows you the ability to actualize your aspiration to help build up new social programs to support the local communities or fund them where there is a need. After all, philanthropy is something only the rich can afford.
It allows you peace of mind knowing you have the resources to buy you and your family security and knowing you have the means to able to enable your children to be all they could be in life.
So to simply say money does not buy you happiness is debatable, a phrase thrown around too simply without its significance understood.
Although I agree wealth does not mean a life without problems, it is always better than a life in constant need of income.
Money, if managed wisely, and the power and functions for it are well understood by those who have it, can be a mighty tool in a person’s hands.
So don’t shrug away the pursuit for money.
Instead, let’s put aside the pursuit of money for the want of material possessions, but think of it as a means to having abundant options and to avoid being trapped in a corner in life.
You might develop a healthier relationship with money with this thought in mind.