Find Solace In Virtue
Virtue is more important than money. Live for virtue and you will be rich inside. Live for money and you will be poor inside.
The Wealth Threshold
A study in 2023 found that income is actually correlated to happiness in the majority of the population. This was a surprise to me as before I saw this paper I was under the impression that there was a wealth threshold around $75 000 - $100 000 that if you go past means money will no longer make you happier. The paper where I saw the $75 000 figure was published in 2010 and has now been disproved by the study in 2023 where they found that money correlates to happiness up to incomes of around or upwards of $500 000 per year! Despite this I still think that my point is valid, more money may ultimately make you happier but as we can see after a certain point it cannot. No matter where this threshold is it stands to prove that beyond money there is something more in which we long for. People who have income higher than $500 000 per year cannot rely on money to satisfy their happiness, this means that there must be something else which can make us happy past that amount.
I believe that the answer is virtue and family. Virtue being behaviors which are self-less and uplift people including yourself. Family are the people who are very close to, including your very close friends. These are the people who would pick up and help you if you called them out of the blue saying you need them. As discussed in my previous post, loneliness is one of the deadliest conditions in modern times and while many people claim they have a plethora of friends the amount of those friends who would do anything for you is probably none. We need these very close and intimate relationships with people in order to survive, we are a tribal species and being among other people in a tribe can comfort us and in turn make us happier.
Along with being connected with people finding a passion will make us happy when money cannot. Finding a purpose in life is the ultimate search which each and every one of us is undertaking. Only those who have found it will know what it feels like to be so convinced and confident in the meaning of their lives, to wake up knowing you purpose and what you are giving to the world. To have something which you are aiming to achieve will bring you happiness, this is why working a corporate office job is not the most fulfilling job, because you are aiming to achieve something which offers little or no benefit to you.
Stop thinking that money will make you happy, nothing will. Only you have the power to make yourself happy. You must find the thing you love to do and follow that passion with a relentless attitude. You will find happiness in pursuing a passion and happiness is the ultimate wealth. The most worthwhile currency.
So remember that you mustn’t live life looking to make more money but instead change your mindset to look for ways to make yourself happier. If you do not have a lot of money and think that having an extra few thousand a month will make you happier and less stressed than work towards that. Money may be the answer to many but not to all, the remaining 20% who were not happier as their income increased are those who may need to look beyond money for happiness. Those people strive to achieve things which cannot be measure in monetary terms, something else in the world should give them happiness that isn’t money. These people make up two out of every ten people we come across. This proves that money isn’t always the answer to your problems even when you do not have a lot of it.
Instead of looking to make more money for the sake of more money look at the world through a solver lens. How can I fix things to make my life better. What are areas in your life which create the most stress and pain for you and how can you alleviate those to live a happier life. Find things in your life which make you happy and the things which make you unhappy. If you are struggling to pay the bills every month and this is causing you a lot of stress then you must obviously focus on earning more money for your time so that you can overcome these challenges. In deep poverty you are forced to live everyday in survival mode which turns on the survival part of the brain and does not let you stop to reflect and think about anything other than how you are going to afford your next meal. In this situation money is the solution to your happiness and no one can say otherwise. However if you have enough money to not have to stress about every single bill then you must start to plan for the future and reflect on the present. Use the time which you have earnt yourself by working to plan to make enough money so that you do not need to work for money but instead for yourself. Once you can work for yourself in something you are passionate about no matter how much you are getting paid you will enjoy everyday.
Money means nothing to someone who is already happy inside. They have everything they need inside of them and no one can take that from them.
Reasons To Wake Up
When we wake up every morning we are given the opportunity to declare why we woke up but many of us do not answer this question. We wake up and do not reflect on why we have woken up. For what reason will you make an effort and work hard during the day?
Most people will wake up with their alarm because they have to be at the office at 9:00am otherwise they will suffer repercussions. Could there not be a bigger and better reason why you wake up in the morning?
An architect wakes up to build great monuments.
An doctor wakes up to save people’s lives.
A CEO wakes up to empower individuals inside and outside of his company.
We must find a reason to wake up every morning which is above ourselves. Finding a reason which is beyond your self gives you a meaning which will carry on living even once you are dead. This reason will reside in your passion, the thing which you could do effortlessly and with love and determination. Once you know what you want to do and why you want to do it then you will be much more complete, you will walk with reason because you know why. Many people do not know why and this is the reason for their sadness. They live in constant movement and chaos without ever thinking why they are doing it. Why are they working?
A good example of someone who found their passion and was so confident in their conviction to it that they gave up everything to pursue it is the retired MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov. From a young age his father motivated him to pursue fighting, and after Khabib did he knew he was destined for greatness. Khabib did not work a job when many in his village were and instead would go to the gym to train, go to sleep at noon and then train again, sleep and repeat. Khabib had a reason, he had found his passion and purpose in the world and his confidence came along with it. Nothing and no one could stop him, literally, when Khabib retired he had never lost nor drew a fight with a perfect 29-0-0 record and never even bled throughout his career which is unheard of. Khabib was the best fighter in the world because he believed in himself and followed his passion with conviction and courage.
Finding Solace In Virtue
No man more respected than a virtuous one.
Find comfort in the fact that you know that everyday you are living to your own values and that everyday you strive to uphold them as best you can. There is nothing more which you can do once you have done that. If you show the world your values which are virtuous and live according to them then many great things will come to you.
Virtue is something that modern society lacks. Nihilism is not necessarily a bad thing however people have abandoned virtue, to live according to values. Deeply religious people live according to the values of their religion and are happy doing so. Their reason to wake up in the morning is already set out for them, to uphold those values. Nihilism means that people must find their own reasons to wake up in the morning. I am not pro-religion however I believe that there is great value in having a centralized belief system which holds everyone up to a decent standard. A set of values is something every person can strive towards, from king to peasant all are equal in their quest to uphold these values.
It is by living according to these values that we find meaning, a reason to wake up in the morning. We must assign our lives a mission and live our entire lives seeking this mission out. Religion gives people this. If you are not religious you must find your own mission.
Thanks for reading,
Max
Beautifully written, I resonate deeply … 🫶🏿