You wouldn’t know it from reading many blogs, but Financial Independence is not the real goal. Sure, there are lots and lots of words written on how to save money, how to earn more, how to live with less or how to keep money from leaking out of your life.
But all of these are just guides to a different destination.
Just as we shouldn’t mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon, we should not mistake the signposts and techniques for the ultimate goal.
What is the ultimate goal?
I doubt one’s ultimate goal is to save money or to earn more. Both of these are means to an end. Never an end in themselves.
I doubt on that on one’s deathbed, when asked about their life, one would say “I saved lots of money.” Being the richest person in the graveyard is useless.
Goal
The ultimate goal might be described as a fulfilled life. A life where one is/was happy and loving, loved and generous, satisfied and sharing.
So what does money have to do with all of these things?
There are two answers. Firstly, nothing. Money has nothing to do with all of these goals.
The second answer is a little more complicated. Most people feel stressed and burdened by their need to work. Many people hate their jobs and the obligations that drive them to take work. So, the desire to save and potentially become financially independent arises from the desire to have a life free of the work obligation.
So, the thinking goes, if only I was financially independent, then I’d be free enough and have enough time to have a fulfilled life.
Wrong!
It’s a big mistake to put life on hold. While mired in debt and stress, it is hard to remember how to be calm, happy, and generous. But it is in those moments of stress that we learn most about ourselves and how much we can handle.
It is in the journey that we find who we are, not at the destination.
If we think we can wait until a time when we are free, we will have missed much of the journey, and miss much of ourselves and those around us.
Do we wait until we retire, regardless of age, to begin to live?
We are living **now**, despite all challenges, hurts, roadblocks, stresses. Now! Now is the time to live fully. Now is the time to become the person we expect to be someday.
And if **now** is the time to save money, to work harder, to earn more, then we do what needs to be done. But to put our life on hold until some mythical someday… that is dangerous and self-defeating. Do not abdicate one’s life for an idea. If we wait, by the time we become free, we will have long solidified who and what we are.
We take ourselves with us wherever we go. We will not change overnight. Winning the lottery is not likely to give us a better life, in fact many lottery winners have worse lives when the dust settles.
The Purpose
So the purpose of all this striving is a better life. Can we have a better life despite the striving? Can we have a better life even during the striving?
What do you think? See the Contact page how to respond.
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