Giving Up To Get...

Life is about giving and getting, and I'm not referring to Christmas time. In everything we do we give and get, and there are trade-offs. If we want to get more money, in general we have to give up more time. If we want to get a new hobby, we may have to give up and old one. You get the idea.

What's interesting though, is how much more people are willing to give up now, than they were thirty or forty years ago. Now I can hear you saying that our standard of living is so much better now than it was in the fifties and sixties. I think every Generation X'er, born to immigrant parents must have heard the same stories of how Mum or Dad had to walk barefoot through snow to get to school... or took their shoes off when walking to school so as to not wear them out... or having the dream of one day owning a bought bicycle (one not put together from a collection of junk pieces). At some stage we've all heard these bleeding heart stories, but people weren't giving anything up to live like that - they had no choice. There weren't riches like we have now. My grandfather remembers when they used to add sawdust to the bread to give it volume. Now, I'd never even have considered that as an option, but they didn't consider it then because sawdust tastes good, they simply had no better option.

So thirty of forty years ago when the people looked forward to a future with factory automation, labour-saving appliances and computer technology that would all reduce the amount of work required, it's interesting to note that in the last twenty years the number of hours worked in North America has increased.

It's interesting that as a society we are now unable to afford proper health care, but how could we afford it twenty years ago when we were earning so much less. Where has all the money gone?

It goes to The Brick, Home Depot, Ikea, Nike, General Motors, McDonalds, Banana Republic, Nokia, Sony, The Body Shop and the list could go on almost forever. People these days spend so much more on personal items, and the race to keep up with the Joneses is faster and more furious than ever before. People are caught up in a spending frenzy, now with everything at 0% finance rates, don't pay 'till 2016, and other selling strategies.

All in the name of achieving happiness. But where does all this get us. We've given up so much of our spare time to work longer hours to afford all this stuff. We're chronically in debt to keep up appearances. The emergence of forty-year home mortgages is a further sign, that although we have all this money we still can't afford the essentials like good health care and a roof over our heads.

And then, does it make us any happier? With drug use on the increase, suicide a worsening problem, and the huge number of people on anti-depressants you'd have to say we aren't.

Happiness, you can see by looking at unhappy rich people, doesn't come from owning stuff, and one-upping the Joneses. True happiness comes from having good friends and loved ones, it comes from real satisfaction and meaning. True happiness can't be bought or owned or bestowed on you in the form of a title. True happiness comes from within.

Don't give up the important things in life for money and status. It isn't worth it.