My thought for today is “money isn’t everything”. I have been severely depressed for so many months because of not making the kind of money I would like to be making. My whole life has been pretty much held in limbo while I’ve been struggling to achieve my financial goals; and the longer it has taken for my bank account balance to reach the targeted 7 figures, the more depressed I have become. The more depressed I’ve become the harder it has been to care about anything other than the fact that I’m not making the kind of money I want to be making. I’m even in therapy largely because of the depression I’ve fallen into since my income sources dried up. But interestingly enough I’m feeling very good at the present moment. It could be the rum and coke in which I’ve uncharacteristically indulged; but I’m hoping in the morning when I wake up I will still be feeling excited and wanting to make some changes in my life that involve living and being happy despite my financial circumstances.

This might seem an inappropriate bit of information to share on a blog dedicated to “the search for legitimate means for acquiring money”, but it is believed that sex and money are invariably linked by their power to control one’s level of joy whether real or imagined. For me, love-making has been a source of significant frustration for many months. I simply have not been able to work up an interest in sex. I’ve been spending 18 hours per day working, trying to make money, chasing after a million dollar condo in Manhattan. I’ve been mentally beaten, driving myself to the point where I’ve been falling asleep at my desk. By the time I’ve called it quits every night for the past several months, I’ve been already 99% unconscious and have had only enough awareness left to get me safely to the bedroom and into the bed.

But, at the recommendation of my therapist, I decided yesterday to spend the evening getting closer to my spouse instead of spending it making blog posts and trying to optimize websites to make them perform better in search engines and generate more money per day via Google Adsense.

Many of us who spend our days and nights thinking about the money we don’t have and trying to find ways to amass fortunes, often convince ourselves that life cannot be enjoyed until we have the money that affords us the right to enjoy it. In reality, we don’t need money to be able to enjoy life. Money can only purchase things, and things only enhance life in one way or another. We all know there are many things we can’t do without money. We need money for food. We need money for clothes. We need money for shelter; and food clothes and shelter are high on the list of the hierarchy of human needs if I remember Mrs. Jenkin’s lesson from 10th grade correctly. So money is important; but if you’re managing to meet your needs, there’s no need to stop living just because you don’t have the extra few dollars for those material possessions you might like to own. The time you spend thinking life is not worth living because you have to live in a 2-bedroom apartment when you’d prefer to live in a 10-bedroom mansion is time you could be spending living and enjoying life, enjoying the people in your life, sharing laughter, smelling the roses, having coffee, a rum and coke, making love….

The people in your life won’t be in your life forever, nor will you be in theirs forever. Yes, money is important, but money isn’t everything. Stop living your life for the purpose of making money. Start living your life for the purpose of getting as much joy as you possibly can out of each day.