Rich Spirit
On Redefining What it Means to Be Rich
I’m not waiting for the world to tell me when I’m rich; if I did, I’d be waiting forever.
At 6:45 on a Wednesday night in October, I found myself lying face down on a heated table with needles meticulously placed along my back, calves, arms, and feet. This was my first time getting acupuncture and it was more brutal than expected. My back had been in pain for two days, and none of my home remedies could stop the spasming and aching. So I groaned and bared the pain of a stranger sticking needles into my tense muscles. The next morning my back was feeling looser as promised, though I was also navigating the soreness that was forewarned. I made my way to my balcony and started journaling about my financial worries, and that’s when I felt my back tense. Something clicked then - the back pain was a manifestation of my financial stress.
I took the back pain as a wake up call for me to re-evaluate my financial situation and take steps to repair it. If you’ve been following along, then you know that didn’t exactly work out in my favor. The loss of my job in November pushed me to break my lease, and I’ve been going back and forth with my greedy ex-landlord ever since; he still claims I owe him money, and that has caused me an intense level of stress.
Since losing my job I have quickly found out that the institutions I owe money to don’t give a fuck about my situation, everyone just wants their payments on time. To use a tired expression, I’ve felt like I’ve been getting kicked while I’m down. The landlord situation was the last straw though, and I decided that if no one cared about my wellbeing, why should I care about the money I owed them? I also realized they have no real power over me - what are the credit card companies and my former landlord gonna do, arrest me? No, unless someone is gonna reach through my phone screen and strangle me, the only power they have is what I decide to give them.
My financial woes have pushed me to think a lot about wealth recently, specifically what I believe more money would do for me. I mostly want more money for the security it could offer, but I don’t long for a life of extreme excess. I’ve had a couple conversations with my parents lately on what it means to be rich; prompted by me complaining about being broke. My father posed a question during one of these discussions,“Donald Trump has a lot a money, but is he rich?” We’re in this interesting moment in American society, where some of the wealthiest men in the world are willing to strip us of public services in the name of funding tax breaks they don’t need. Why? Don’t they have enough? Isn’t a billion dollars enough? Perhaps it’s because they’re looking for money to fill voids it’s not capable of. Maybe, they’re not really rich.
When I zoom out and think about wealth, and more specifically aspiring to be wealthy, it’s really about the promise. When you have enough money in the bank, everything is supposed to come together, you’re supposed to be happy. That’s the thing that we’re all chasing - happiness, and money is supposed to buy it. Years ago, I watched a documentary on happiness and learned that after you’ve made enough money for your basic needs to be met (at the time the number was $70k) more money does not equate to more happiness. This explains why some of the richest men in the world are wreaking havoc on society; they are rich in money, but still haven’t found happiness. If they were happy and content with their lives, they would leave the rest of us alone and go retire on a private island somewhere.
Money is powerful and necessary in this world, but what you can do with it is limited. Money can open doors, make things move faster, provide access to resources and comforts, but the things that matter most in this life money is not capable of buying. Money can’t buy you time, love, community, resilience, joy, etc. True wealth is a formula: you need enough money to cover your basic needs, a loving community, purposeful work, good health, quality food, and access to natural resources. That’s it, everything else beyond that is extra. Despite not having a job right now or ample financial resources, I’m still rich because I have all the things I listed.
With everything happening in the world right now, it’s important that we get back to basics. As long as the fundamentals are taken care of - food, shelter, safety, and community, we’re good. What truly matters in life is not a credit score or bank account balance, but the depths of our connections and our ability to enjoy the time we have, knowing that it is limited. Cheers to the rich life.
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I’m right there with you! Since losing my job my life has been happier. I recently got a contract job and although I’m grateful I wouldn’t necessarily I’m excited (I didn’t choose this job, it was an opportunity that was presented to me and I accepted it solely to have income). I feel like excitement comes more when you picked it and wanted that particular job or title. This time has put many things into perspective for me, like how companies put themselves first and you should to, that you should prioritize the things you love, and as you shared - you just need the $ that you need for the season and to bask in the richness of life.
So young and yet so wise. If only your message could be plastered across the sky so everyone could read it.