Lester,

Two things came to mind while reading this thread. In my experience, your “why” is important. It’s what determines how far you will go and what will make you continue. If you get rich so you can take care of a sickly child, then you will might stop killing yourself at work if that child dies or alternatively you might be willing to lie and cheat a stranger to save your child. If you are doing it just to prove it to yourself, then maybe no amount of money will be enough. If you marry a woman because she is beautiful, why not divorce her and marry someone younger when her beauty fades? Or maybe you’ll marry a beautiful woman who you really love only to have her leave you for someone richer. You can travel the world to impress people or be accomplished only to find out you don’t even like or want to be around the people you started out impressing. I don’t think these things are bad in and of themselves, but some people find this way of life empty if these are the only things you live for. I realize that there are a lot of “ifs” and “buts”, and that’s my point. There are no guarantees and, there are a trillion variables. What I’ve come to learn is that oftentimes people don’t even know what it takes to *really* make them happy until they take this usual route and find out that it’s not all what they thought it would be.

I think if money, beautiful partners and travel were fulfulling then people in Hollywood wouldn’t have affairs, divorces, have mental illness, ever be single, struggle with addictions and all their children would turn out perfect. Rock stars wouldn’t die at twenty seven.

Unfortunately, money can’t bring back a person who has died; you can’t bribe anyone to let you change your past or take away things you regret.
People who have it all still have problems or feel empty knowing that they should be happy but that it just doesn’t do it for them.

There is a quote I like, “From the outside looking in you can’t understand it, and from the inside looking out you can’t explain it.” By all means, see if it works for you! I think it’s something no one else can tell you, you have to experience it. There are no shortcuts to understanding something firsthand.

I’ve traveled and from my experience you can be in paradise but it means nothing if you hate the people around you, you can have more money than you’ve ever had and that can’t change your childhood or change a friend who wants to self destruct, and you can date models only to find out that they don’t make you light up or that they have issues just like everyone else.

Good luck! If it works out for you, buy me a drink!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Kinny.

Lester,
That’s a very nice dream to have certainly. But if you plan on relying on riches, the best looking girl, fame/wealth, etc. to make you happy….well you may want to sit down with your thoughts and dissect your way of thinking. It is not bad to have that “extra stuff” in your life and regarding the girl I mean the relationship not the actual girl as a possession, although in life many people treat each other as an object.
One deep question that I always ask my self is the fact is; “Would I still be happy even if my possessions were taken away, the people I knew left me or broke contact with me, being dethroned or knocked off the top of the mountain”?
As others have pointed out the difference between “wants” and “needs” in life, the fundamentals of life including remembering/mastering the basics. Once that way of thinking takes over, then the rest should follow suit.

Thank you and take care.
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