Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Problems

Every person has problems, right?

Every family has problems, right?

Let's talk about it.  

I recently was talking with someone who owns a decently large company.  This person has been extremely successful.  He has done his time, risked a lot of money and worked for it.  We were talking about problems in our world.  He said (in a not cocky way, I promise), "you know I'm rich and people think that because I have so much money that I don't have any problems.  And that's just not true.  I just have a different set of problems."  And I can certainly see that.

One thing Kevin has always said, "the more you have, the more complicated your life is."

Some of the places I've traveled, I see a lot of people living the very simple life.  A life that you or I wouldn't live.  But those people are happy.  They are satisfied with what they have.  They don't have a bunch of money in the stock market or multiple mortgages or a high stress job (or maybe they do).  Sure, there are some of them that want more and aren't happy living the way they are but overall I think that Kevin's statement is true. 

And how about family?  There is no perfect family.  I'm a big believer.  Every family has something wrong or not perfect.  It may look on the outside that the family down the street is absolutely perfect - always smiling, well dressed, goes on fancy trips.  But let's be real...there is something, something that is deep down that they are struggling with.  Do you all agree?

Mo Money, Mo Problems?  Not necessarily true.  Thoughts?


9 comments:

  1. I think this is very true! My Mom always tells me that when she was growing up with a lot less, she actually had less stress. I learned in a sociology class that $100,000 is the max "happiness" salary. Meaning that, over $100,000 people don't feel any happier. Happiness with money only seems to increase up to that point. Now, I think that could depend on which city you live in etc, but I thought it was an interesting statistic.

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  2. I think it's too as well. My cousin just got divorced. The big culprit is her husband started making more and more money and honestly, it changed his personality.
    He became obsessed.

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  3. I'd like to propose two alternative quotes:

    1) Be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

    2) The secret to having it all is believing you already do.

    Remembering both daily keeps so much in perspective. Good post, girl!

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  4. Sorry for the long comment, but whenever my friends and I talk about this, it reminds me of the story of the Mexican Fisherman:

    "An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

    The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

    The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

    The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

    To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”

    “But what then?” Asked the Mexican.

    The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”

    “Millions – then what?”

    The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

    This just keeps everything in perspective but also makes me realize everyone's wants, needs, desires are different - and you just do what is best for you and your family. :)

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  5. I think this is very true! Some friends of mine had very large trust funds set-up for them by their parents (I'm talking eight figures), and they have more problems and family issues about money than any people I know! Mo' money, mo' problems!!

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  7. I agree that money brings "different" problems. Not being able to feed your family is a problem not many of us can relate to, and that's on a completely different scale than something like having money-hungry relatives. However, I will say money can make people do crazy things and it does make one vulnerable to crazy people! I find happy and humble often coincide. BTW, love the Mexican Fisherman story!

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  8. Almost on the same note, I read an article this morning that said kids whose parents are divorced and come from wealthy families have a harder time adjusting and have more behavior issues then kids who have divorced parents and are considered low income. Found it very interesting.

    I actually have so much to say on this topic, but not nearly enough time before my next meeting :)

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  9. I think the internet exacerbates our thinking that everyone else has a perfect life. People only post pics/tell stories about the good stuff. They don't tell you the family issues, etc. Sometimes people allude to it (and then we get even more hooked by the vague statements) but 99.9% of the time we only see the sliced image, not the whole picture. Makes you wonder what is really going on!

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