
Everybody wanna get rich right away
Right away, right away, right away
Everybody wanna get rich right away
Everybody wanna be king for a day
Everybody wanna get rich right away
If you wanna be rich and you wanna be wealthy
I believe I’d rather be poor and healthy
If you wanna be rich and you wanna be wealthy
I believe I’d rather be poor and healthy
Songwriters: Mac Rebennack (aka Dr John)
It sometimes takes a while to realize that health really does matter more than wealth. But we aren’t really told that when we are young, and if we were, we’d ignore it, being young. Youth is never wasted, but time gets precious and choices change as you find your career in life.
With us approaching warp speed information overload, we are fed more of the pixel pudding that says keeping up with the Jones’ matters more than ever. But, as the man said, what you own ends up owning you. That’s the truth. These days, if you don’t achieve the Instagram ideal, or become rich or famous and show that off, then you aren’t living a full life. More than ever our social currency is all about aspiring to some artificial ideal. We hear stories of people crushed and despondent when they can never achieve it. It’s a strange time to live in with everyone holding a mirror up to total artifice and wanting the mirage they see, and like every mirage can never reach. The day someone took TV and put it into telephones and then put those telephones into our hands, changed the game for a shift to a material world the like of which the world has never seen. And it’s hard on modern health. According to the American Institute for Stress, 62% of Americans are stressed about money, second highest after “future of our nation” at 63%. A national health report from Everyday Health states, “Our research shows that chronic stress is a national epidemic for all genders and ages, particularly those who are 25 to 35 years old. To unpack this problem is a matter partly of mental health and partly of physical health. Here’s the hard truth: The causes and solutions to chronic stress are a complex mixture of socioeconomic, environmental, genetic, physical, and spiritual factors.” The authors go on to say: “As a country, we are struggling to address many mental health issues that, it turns out, are closely tied to chronic stress; there are not enough specialists or practicing healthcare professionals to address them. Is it any wonder people turn to social media to feel less isolated — only to find that social media itself can turn into a source of amped up, toxic stress?”
Stress is an epidemic around the world that seems to grow worse every year.
In that gazing pool we call mobile phones, we can very easily lose sight of what matters because we are encouraged to think other things, like I need a Maybach or a million-dollar house or some other thing. As the lady said, you can’t take it with you. When we lose what we care about for ourselves, which is ourselves, we can get really lost and lose everything important to us along the way. The pursuit of money as we all know isn’t everything. The world shows us that it is, more than ever before, and we are shown we are so much lesser than those who care about “having it all”. In my estimation, I’d like to have my 20-year-old liver back or my figure that has become abundant due to the many “rubber chicken dinners” I’ve had. I’d prefer not to do business in the common fashion, which seems to be a drinking culture capped by dessert with a room of people who don’t actually want to be there at all, everyone looking at their phones, finding their excuses to leave early. So-called “showing face” is important in business we are taught, but is it really true? Is it actually good for us if we chaff at the situation we’re in? Or is it only a face, a mask, worn to satisfy the crowd of Jones’ you’re trying to impress, behind which you feel like you’re faking it?
These are questions of personal health when it comes down to it, meaning, what doesn’t satisfy our souls and nourishes us finally kills us from the inside out.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to be with certain people a lot, they bring me energy and joy. And there are many causes I care about. And I care passionately about my clients and the health of my business. But you have to remember, which I did after three hip surgeries, that life is precious and feeling healthy matters more than being “at everything” and pushing health to the side for the sake of a never-ending expectations hanging overhead with no end in sight and no real reward. Money isn’t everything. Having been partner with a national recruiting firm, and now operating my own (much better) international firm, I’ve made myself, my mind, and my body, healthier by finding a better way to work, for me. Smooth processes, choosing who I want to work with, choosing the things I support because they one hundred percent align with my values. These things make my heart happy and bring me peace of mind no matter what else is happening around me. Enduring chronic high stress and late nights at something you don’t find joy in can only lead to health problems, binge eating, anxiety, insomnia, depression, self doubt and worse. This is no way to happiness or health.
Your inner joy matters. Is it that voice inside that whispers to us as we drive to a job we really despise but we tell ourselves we need it and it’s too scary to do something else? Is it what keeps us awake at night when we feel bothered and we can’t really understand why we toss and turn? Is it that feeling of “there’s something missing” when we realize money never did or could bring happiness? The answer to all of that is an emphatic YES.
Do what you love. Not for the love of money. For the love of you.
When I made the choice to go out on my own, I felt a weight lift from me, that feeling you get when you know inside that you made the right choice. No end of people looked at me with wide eyes when I sold my partner shares and started my own executive and professional recruiting firm. “Are you sure you want to do that?” and its variations daily showered down, most difficult coming from those whose opinions I valued most. I had others try to tell me where I fit in the scheme of things (mostly somewhere down the ladder from where they felt they belonged). It was like people wanted to see me either not try or try and fail. And neither of those things happened. I felt healthier inside, looked happier outside, and I felt like I could really feel my powers and passions again.
Do what you love. Not for the love of money. Do it for the health of your heart and soul. What seems to happen, really, in the end, is when you follow your dreams, the richest of the riches come your way, and the money follows, too.
Do what’s good for you.
Dr’s orders.
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