This piece is part of my 2016–2026 archive migration. Some original formatting, content, and external links may be missing, changed, or not be optimized.
What your neighbor has and thinks about you doesn’t matter
Today we live in the digital age of pictures, social media, entertainment, and luxury. Bigger and badder are better. If you don’t show what you got, you’re not living right.
But this is what’s perpetuating a materialistic society. People are so accustomed to seeing what everyone has, which creates a keeping up with your neighbor culture, which is nothing less than toxic.
We don’t know how not to share our wealth with the world because we loop it into our identities. If we don’t have x, y, and z, we’re not sh*t or aren’t doing sh*t right.
Wrong.
Modest lives are meaningful, too.
If you have money, good for you.
If you don’t have money, good for you, too, because you have the ability to create wealth for yourself and transform your situation if you put your mind to work.
The best thing you can do with your wealth is to share it with others. Not boast about it to others. No fulfillment can come from that.
What I Have Is Better Than Yours
A guy who drove a car that looked ten times better than mine told me my car sucks. I still drive the same damn car.
Driving a nice car doesn’t add value to your identity. It’s just material.
What you drive will never matter more than who you are and how much financial freedom you can afford.
Chasing Wealth
A common attitude amongst cultures is “I need to outdo my neighbor.”
Instead, we should call this the race to lose your soul.
When you’re chasing materials, things, and money, and recognition, you can compromise yourself in the process and lose your soul, your life, your time, your relationships, your self-respect, your freedom.
There can be no freedom in materialistic addictions, and there never will be.
Too often, we need to recognize that what we want can keep us chained.
Desires can become cloaks of imprisonment; if you’re not careful, you will sacrifice so much in the process of attaining monetary goals.
Instead of chasing wealth, create wealth. Focus on providing services that can impact the most people; eventually, wealth will find you in numerous ways.
But wealth comes to those who can provide a valuable service to society. If you’re in it for yourself, your journey to wealth may last a lifetime, and if you do come in contact with it, it’s likely not to last forever, or it might just be an empty achievement for you.
This content is for informational purposes only — not professional advice. Consult a qualified professional before making any major decisions.