Let me tell you a story
By Capital Thinking · Issue #1010 · View online
Does Money Buy Happiness?
It probably depends on who’s blog post you’re reading. Everyone has their take on this, but here’s mine.
Let me start by being real with you. I’ve been making well over 6 figures since I was 24 years old. And that’s not to brag, at all. I want to share that no matter how much money I’ve earned, it didn’t buy ME happiness.
There’s a lot of research done on money and happiness, and I’ll get to it, but first I want to share with you about why I don’t think money alone buys happiness.
Does Money Buy Happiness?
For starters, the millionaires that I know, are (mostly) genuinely unhappy. Not all, but most.
And so I started asking these tremendously wealthy multimillionaires what would make them happy. Common denominator: family and connection.
They would give up all of their money if it meant they could have family and connection.
Some of them lost a spouse and they desire that connection that is now gone. They have gorgeous homes, collectible cars, and $60,000 paintings on the walls that look like a 4 year-old finger painted.
They had money to buy anything they desired. But they were not happy without connection. And I thought this was interesting because, I agreed.
The time of my life where I lacked the most connection, I made the most money – and quite frankly, I could give a shit about the green paper bills.
Let me tell you the story…In 2017, I slipped a vertebra backwards while throwing a tennis ball for my dog. Fetch seemed harmless, but that day changed my life for good.
My legs gave out from under me. I felt the most searing pain down my spine and no feeling in my legs. I had an MRI, and my doctor said these two words: degenerative retrolisthesis.
And I responded with these three choice words: What the fuck?
At the age of 27, I had a degenerative spine disease with not only a dislocated vertebra but a bulging disc above it, an annular tear in the disc below it, and spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal). Excruciating, agonizing, harrowing, violent pain was a complete understatement.
I know you’re wondering where am I going with this, but hear me out. We all go through tribulations, but I’m sharing this because I want you to think hard about the answer to this question – Does money buy happiness?
Over the next 10 months I worked my job from the comfort of my floor. I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t surf anymore. Heck, I couldn’t even use the restroom by myself or get dressed. I was kidding myself thinking about surfing.
Having my brother put me on the toilet and pick me back up, was fucking humbling. And I didn’t just lose my dignity – I lost all of my connections.
I still had a lot of money though.
I didn’t have friends who would come over to help me. No one invited me to anything anymore because they knew I couldn’t do anything. No one checked in on me.
In fact, I realized maybe some people weren’t meant to be my friends if they can’t help me at my worst, so I even cut some “friends” out.
I still had a lot of money though.
To make matters worse, about 6 months into this accident, I started to struggle with other areas of my health. I had trouble breathing, vertigo, I was chronically fatigued.
Was this depression from not being able to walk? No. It was worse.
I still had a lot of money though.
It took 8 months of testing to figure out that I had multiple diagnoses. I had encephalitis which is a fancy word for brain inflammation.
I started slurring my speech, I basically sounded drunk 24/7 (which is why I don’t drink alcohol).
I still had a lot of money though.
I had multiple autoimmune diseases, neurotoxicity, an antibiotic resistant staph infection, and insomnia.
I developed allergies I never had before, I grew a tumor on my leg, I lost 22 lbs, my muscles atrophied, I lost padding in my hands and feet so everything I touched or walked on hurt.
It hurt to be touched. It hurt to be hugged.
I still had a lot of money though.