Will I ever be free of mine?
It is all about scarcity. Scarcity of money. Scarcity of time. Scarcity of skill. Scarcity of opportunity, confidence, love. Whatever I value, I will never have enough of it. Which is likely, part of the human condition which keeps us striving, trying, evolving and ultimately, failing.
Failure is inevitable.
We are often told to "try and try again, until we succeed", but the reality is, that success is never guaranteed, but failure after success is. Every time we win, we are a step closer to a loss.
Every All Time High, is followed by a dip.
Next month, it will be two years since the ATH on Bitcoin.
Is that a long time?
It is an interesting thing to consider if compared against other events. For instance, in the same amount of time, my daughter has gone from daycare, to preschool, to first grade. Yet, as her parent, that time has flown by and when she looks back on it a decade from now, she will only remember glimpses of it. Maybe a teachers name or a friend who didn't want to play with her one day. But, she won't remember each tooth she has lost, she won't remember the times her parents looked after her when she was ill, she won't remember all the hugs and kisses goodnight.
All these important things that are milestones in her life and ours, forgotten.
The time just keeps running and there is never enough of it. Every bit that drips away is a moment less, a step closer to the end of time - the end of an individual lifetime.
There have been very few times in my life where I have felt financially secure. But, there have been times in my life where I have spent what I have like water, uncaring about what the future holds. Rather than being acts of hedonism, they were more likely acts of nihilism.
It is all meaningless.
Rich and poor, we all die the same. Which is true, but how do we live?
Some will have you believe that money doesn't matter, as it can't by happiness. Yet, if you could buy happiness, what would that look like for you? They say that being grateful and helping others brings life satisfaction. Can't a wealthy person be grateful for what they have and use it to help others? Wouldn't using resources like that be "buying happiness"?
But, even without that, people tend to forget that there is satisfaction and purpose to be found in the process of obtaining wealth, and it can be more than just seeing the numbers go up. How we live our life is more important than what we have, but assuming that someone building wealth is wasting their time and potential, is folly. At least anecdotally from my own experiences with wealthy people, they tend to do a lot to help others live a better existence too.
A person living in poverty can help others also, but the reach and impact are likely far shorter and lower, as there are less resources available. The effects can be profound on those they interact with, and it can still bring joy. But, they aren't mutually exclusive, you can do both. It is a lie that wealth corrupts, as it is "just a tool" - it is we the people who are corruptible.
Money is an innocent.
It is ignorant to who earns it, who holds it, or what it is spent on. It doesn't care if it is buying a kilo of food, or a kilo of cocaine. It has no opinion on if it is donated to charity, or used to buy weapons of mass destruction.
Money doesn't judge.
We judge.
We judge everything, including whether we have too much or too little of something. Too little money, too much fat. Too sad, too happy, too pretty, too ugly, too light, too dark, too late, too early, too fast, too slow... life is a very long list of judgements and it has to be, because there is no perfect. Every time we compromise, we are making a judgement. Even in the acceptance, we have to first understand that it is not our ideal.
My scarcity mindset born in poverty, is a judgement.
When someone says they "don't judge" - that is a judgement too. And one I would say is not based in reality. A fabrication of the mind trying to jig the numbers, because they don't want to be something, or don't want to be something else. Why not? because they are judging.
It is who we are and how we are.
Maybe an abundance mindset is better for our personal wellbeing, where we always feel like we have enough. However, is it good for our society, or progress, our evolution? If we are fine with who we are, does it make us insensitive to the needs of the environment and less likely to make the changes we need to make to survive? Are content people the ones that invent clean energy, or cure cancer?
Perhaps the nihilistic are those who are able to accept everything as it is, because ultimately, that stagnation will lead to complete failure, without any peaks - unwilling to change, unable to create, just a slide down into oblivion.
A scarcity mindset sees that there *isn't a cure for cancer. That there isn't clean energy. That there isn't enough peace or love in the world. A judgmental mind sees that there is too much violence, too much hate, too much crime, too much suffering. And once the judgements are made, the gaps recognized, there is room for a create mind to try and develop solutions. Even though there is no perfect answer, even though every success will be followed by failure - there is the opportunity to try.
And those who take it, will find meaning.
Whether they are good enough, or not.
We are all lacking something.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
I have been trying to shift my mindset on how I spend. In the past, I tried to save money by buying cheap things that ended up failing me. "Buy once, cry once" is a good adage. Now I am taking time to research because while money is scarce, spending it wisely is a kind of investment in eliminating future inconveniences and expenses. Good tools, good boots, and good books are all better investments than most people know.
It seems so obvious, doesn't it? Why don't we do it when money isn't scarce? That is when it would have the most impact on our ability to save to invest, right?
For sure. I have tried to build a better basic toolkit, since I own a house that needs a lot of work done. Our neighbor has a decent set of crap tools - always having to replace something.
When isn't money scarce? Maybe if I make better long-term plans, it won't be one day.
Back when Sears still existed as a major US retailer, I bought a decent starter set of Craftsman tools. Ratchets and sockets, wrenches, pliers, and so forth. You have it easier if everything is metric-only.
There is a place for both "good enough to do the job once" and "will last a lifetime." I'm not a mechanic. The guys I know who work on cars all day every day consider my tools bare minimum at best, and they own a lot more of everything. But I have had very bad luck with the cheapest tools I have bought from time to time at stores like Harbor Freight. Those are the ones to take when you might lose them before you break them, I suppose.
I really like this quote and the examples. Money is just an object without bias or preferences; heck it is just a piece of paper. We are the ones who give value and importance to it.
There was a prompt I've read before that was really inspiring. "If you had financial freedom, where you don't have to worry about money at all, what would you do with your life?" Without going into the complexities of it [money just enough to pay for all your needs, but not enough to take over the world], it is nice to think of how we'll spend more time with the family, our hobbies, charity, and all other nice things. I think this is the minimum of what we can strive to do.
I think it's those that have been affected by these greatly who will try to fix these problems. Someone who's loved ones died from cancer when they were a child will try to become a doctor or researcher who tries to cure cancer. A rich person who suffered similarly can donate to cancer research. As we've seen right now, the rich don't care about clean energy or curing cancer. They want what's making the most money. They will continue to push fossil fuels and keeping healthcare costs high because it gives a lot of money. It's not about who's content or not that will solve these problems. But I do think that people who don't have to worry about money will have a higher chance of focusing on fixing problems.
And some part of these things can be started prior to having enough money. A few minutes today spent in a good conversation, doing a hobby, helping the neighbor. It all improves our experience. It might not be ideal, but it might also be enough to inspire us to keep working for a bit more.
They can also see it as a means to an end. I was reading about a billionaire in the US who died recently with 2m value. He spent his life supporting causes he believed in - Hospitals and universities etc.
But in general, this:
The incentive is to make money, not make money by improving life.
Money is just a part of life. I do think that being in poverty makes people understand the worth of money more but it doesn't help in generating that wealth. It's all about the mindset that people have and what their own goals are. I find myself lacking and I want to be financially free so I can choose what I want to do.
Perhaps it makes it too emotional. Poor people feel the lack of money, which can also make investing very difficult, because there is risk and it takes away from other needs/wants.
For sure - all about opportunity. Money is the tool that can create it.
Content people (or at least people that have enough that they're inventing problems that don't exist if they have literally nothing better to do and don't want to put themselves out dealing with already existing problems that may be big) are the ones that have the mindspace to solve problems that don't immediately involve making sure that they get whatever resources they feel they need to survive at any and all cost.
I'm sure there was a Zen Pencils comic along these lines but do you think I can find it now XD
Having that mental capacity is incredibly hard when there are all the pressing needs of survival to take care of. "Free time" is a commodity that gives us the space to innovate our lives, yet most of us spend it filling it up with nonsense.
It really is. From memory the Zen Pencils comic was something about the economy relying on people being deliberately kept in constant crisis.
Constant crisis for individuals, means no time to organize an uprising.
Pretty much! Also no time to imagine and then realise something that would work out better for everyone (rather than the sheer bloody minded idiocy that currently goes on where stupid people just do the exact same thing with themselves at the top and the delusion that they'll somehow do the exact same thing better because they are better educated and no better or some other mind numbingly stupid delusion).
I think the money can’t buy happiness line is a mis-termed statement. Money can buy opportunities for one to do something to be happy. It can buy some things hat will allow us to feel fulfilled or not but I think it’s a bit of a ridiculous statement in the day we live in. It might have been the case 100 years ago when people were more self sufficient and self reliant but these days we are fragile fucks lol.
Opportunities are what’s important here in a lot of ways.
I completely agree with you. It is like "looks don't matter" - even though they matter to every one of us - even the blind.
Exactly!
It's hard to believe it has only been two years. It feels like it has been much longer than that to me. I'm actually at the point now where I am kind of doubting that the next ATH will be the game changer that I had thought it would be. Maybe for some people, but probably not for me.
Yes. How long is long enough before another ATH? People are basing it on the 2018, then 20221 run, so I guess 2024 is the next in the series - but will it be? Halving coming, 6 months after that?
I think your post today answers some of those questions. Or at least guesses to what they might be. I feel like people are chomping at the bit and 2025 might be longer than they are willing to wait.
You have spoken so deep. Believing that money can't buy happiness is hard. I think this phrase has a deeper meaning than it appears. Money can't buy happiness but it gives us the opportunity to be happy. It depends who has it, and how they spend it.
Yes. Generally, the people who have it are the ones who think about what they are spending it on.
Ah mate you have triggered my nihilist thoughts. I can say, in short;
Time is ruthless, it goes on because it has to. It eradicates everything in life and replaced them with the new ones.This goes on since the Big Bang, perhaps before that as well :)
It is all meaningless, save the meaning we create while we have the ability to do so, before we are swallowed by the universe, and forgotten in time.
It is also survival mechanism too. For example, parents telling not to be friends with kids of mafia, was not just a warning, but a future survival tactic. Because with every such connection there comes a catch. And nothing comes easy in survival when you associate with potential awkward networking choices. Judgement sometimes saves you from variety of issues in life.
It is what sets us apart from the animals, because it means that we don't just act on instinct alone. We have evolved to be judgmental - pretending that we haven't is to remain ignorant to who we are.
You've painted many scenarios and I have seen your facts friend. Sometimes we misunderstand a lot. From settling for less to judging the wealthy. Not all will thrive at same level. It all depends on the vision. I keep on telling friends that money is not evil but man's lust for money is. There are many who want to impact the world positively.
In 1 hour I will get on the train and at a speed of 140 kilometers per hour I will travel 300 kilometers. I have a surplus of time today :) I'll take my iPad with me and read the news and Hive. I will look out the train window and think. I will be happy. Happiness is here and now. Happiness can be found within almost every day.
I wonder why everyone all time high is always followd by a dip. Well, that's life. Things cannot always go right or wrong and there is no permanent situation.
But is it possible for the prices to keep rising for so long without stopping?
I try to justify my life like this, as I have been paycheck to paycheck since my first divorce 10 years ago. Just have fun now, the future isn't promised. When I did try to HODL and earn some yield along the way, eventually I ended up in Chapter 11. Yeah!
Now this is where I am trying to live my life. Creating solutions in my job. Sharing my knowledge. Influencing others to improve themselves. Slowly but surely making a positive impact in my community and lifting people up who need someone to believe in them.
Discipline... I'm lacking fucking discipline. HELP!!!
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