Fishstick Friday

I can’t take credit for the title of this post (although I would love to). It comes from the book I’m reading right now called “The Geography of Bliss” and I can’t remember the authors name I think Weiner something..? Seriously I think part of his name is Weiner. Anyway this guy travels around the world and goes to different countries trying to figure out why they are happy, and what being happy or happiness means/looks like in other cultures. You may have already heard of the book I think its been a pretty big bestseller. Its very interesting, although a little slow at times, but it’s great to get an American perspective on different cultures versus just reading about them. Outside observation and critique from a point of view I can relate to is refreshing. Its very eye opening especially considering the The Trip is quickly approaching and I love to read about other places in the world that we might go to. I find the most interesting parts to be when he talks about the American view of happiness in comparison to how the current country he is in views happiness. The last chapter I read was on Qatar which is a super small country in the Middle East that has recently become ridiculously wealthy because of, you guessed it, OILNGAS (as he says in the book). There is so much money floating around in this country that people don’t really work and don’t really do a whole lot of anything except drink Starbucks and buy expensive pens. There is no culture and no history just a lot of new buildings and crazy drivers.

The relationship between money and happiness is the theme of this chapter. This is such an interesting topic to me I could literally write (type) forever about it. There are so many facets to this discussion my brain has a hard time organizing them.

We all work and we all have an idea of what it means to live comfortably i.e be happy, but the more we earn the definition of comfortable changes, then we have to work more.

We all want stuff. We want stuff that we think we need, some of it we do need,  but it all is supposed to make us happy. As we earn more money that stuff begins to change. We started by wanting a car, we got that car, now we want one thats faster and newer and cuter.

Is there ever a point where you stop and say “ok I’m good. I think I’m happy with my car and my laptop and I like eating out approximately 2 times a week but having to budget slightly for big expenditures and I really don’t want to work any harder at my job”. I don’t know anyone that does that (expect for my family in Oregon but they are hippies and don’t count in this argument).  We always want more. “More” gives you freedom and freedom is addicting. You’re able to choose what you want and not be constrained by money and that feels good. We do learn to be content with other things in our lives and, at least for myself, find some pride in finding that contentment. Their is a certain smug feeling of being ok with the relationships you have formed and being comfortable with the life you’ve built. Do you ever feel that way about money? We can always have more, our financial situation could always be better. Couldn’t it?