A great question! How much time and effort should we devote to the pursuit of material success? As we move up the economic ladder the pull to continue to the next level is difficult to ignore. We have been ‘trained’ by a culture of consumption to stay on the ‘treadmill’ and move on up! I’m not speaking about the people who work long hours, some of them two jobs, to support their families but to those who seem to pursue materialism and ignore the ‘costs’ A good example would be a mother who decides to go to work to get the BMW, leaving her kids without proper supervision. Is that really worth it?
Life is short and unpredictable and often we find ourselves saying ‘when Ihave more money I will do this or that, or when I have the luxury of taking time I will do this. Let’s face it, unless you are wildly successful, you rarely will feel you have enough. Therefore you must look deep, being true to yourself, to make decisions that the culture generally frown upon. Haven’t we all ‘criticized’ what seem like crazy decision by some? “Did you hear about Joe?, He left that job at IBM to move to Texas and open a bakery? What is he nutz? His wife must be pissed!”
If you want to do something, don’t wait till its too late. Its a cliche I realize but so true. We must find the proper balance between a comfortable life and one that is made uncomfortable and unsatisfying by its single minded pursuit of materialism. I am no socialist and am not suggesting there is anything wrong with material success in fact i applaud it, but we must strike a balance to be happy.
Balance, balance, balance!