When Money Becomes Our Main Objective
It's no doubt that money is a necessary tool for survival and achieving one's goals, but when it becomes our main objective, fundamental problems begin to pop in.
Up until recently and with the advent of modern technology, the pursuit of money was often prioritized over personal growth, relationships, and passion.
However, with the proliferation of technological tools, some people are becoming rich beyond their wildest dreams(in a relative sense) giving them the ability to look beyond just money. Besides, technology in some way has also opened our eyes to the idea that there is more to life than drudgery work.
The issue is that these people are currently a select few when compared to the rest of us who still can't see or realise pass the mindset of money being our main objective. I think we intuitively know that money is not our main objective but we're somehow influenced to act counterintuitively.
Money Replaces Our Interest In The Work Itself
In the olden days, there was a common word that was quite synonyms with work, it was vocation, borrowed from the Latin vocare, which means to call, as in to have a calling. This was fundamentally what work meant. Nowadays, vocation is seldom heard in the collective unconscious. Now we have a job, as in just over broke.
If we removed money from the equation, most of us wouldn't go to work because there is hardly any interest in the work itself. Put money in the equation and we will happily go to work even before it is time to work.
I'm not saying that money should or should not be put in the equation because money has already occupied a formidable position in society that it is almost impossible to do away with. What I'm saying is that we could learn to be interested in the work itself. Otherwise, all the money we earn in the process might fall short against the background of the soul crushing feeling from work.
Luckily for modern people, as technology continues to advance it will become more possible to work on what interests them and earn a living from it or even not worry about survival altogether. They just have to be creative about it.
Conclusion
The problem with letting money become our master is that we can end up becoming deaf to what stirs and calls within us. We ignore our passions and interests and instead focus solely on financial gain.
This can lead to a sense of emptiness and unhappiness, despite having a comfortable lifestyle. Aren't we living more comfortably than our grandparents yet we seem to be less happier than them?
While it's challenging to avoid the allure of money in today's society, we can take steps in the other direction to also prioritize our interests and passions, essentially finding meaning and purpose in our work, even if it sometimes means sacrificing financial gain.
After all, money is only one piece in the puzzle of life.
Thanks for reading!! Share you thoughts below on the comments.
An interesting read to reflect on life at present and in the time of our parents, I say now and then that our parents had it easier, not because things were entirely easy but because they didn't have to deal with all the advancements that we are living with today that is demanding more from us.
I think I recall the word "vocation" being used those days compared to now being a job.
We have succeeded in placing so much pressure on ourselves that we have become slaves of money. Thankfully the likes of Hive could change this slavery and help us earn from doing what we enjoy instead of it being solely for the money to earn.
Yes, life was much less complicated back then than today with all the new variables that we have to constantly deal with. Their options when making a decision was limited compared to today.
Right. Vocation has disappeared now. It's hardly used to describe the work we do.
That's what I'm also optimistic about. With technology, we can flip the script and do work that interests us thereby reducing the impact of a laser like focus on financial gain. I think Hive is a great prototype in that regard.