Imagine becoming a billionaire when you wake up, you may probably think yourself as the luckiest person on the world.
What does money mean to you?
Before we discuss about whether money can buy happiness, we can first ask ourselves a question. What does money means to you? By definition, money is any object that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. In simple words, money can be defined as anything that people use to buy goods and services. In this capitalism society, money represents power. The more money you have, the more financial goals you are able to achieve. For instance, you can buy the newest model of Benz, build your dream house, travel worldwide. You can literally do whatever you want! Nevertheless, the term "corruption" has appeared on daily news very often, means that people will commit illegal and unethical actions to secure more money. Therefore, some people may think that money corrupts people. In my point of view, money doesn't corrupt people. What really corrupted is humanity. Money empowered you, but the point is how you spend the money. For me, money means happiness and my motivation to live a better life. Let's be honest, we all love money and we all want to become rich. In every job interview, there is always the question "Why are you interested in working for this company?" People prepare lots of answers to show their enthusiasm and sincerity about the job. Yet, we all know that the main reason behind is "Because I want to earn more money." Money mean a lot more than just happiness.
Money is not everything, but we can do nothing without money
In fact, money cannot guarantee happiness in all aspects of our life. It cannot buy meaningful relationships, experiences and personal growths. However, it can satisfy our basic needs and attain financial stability. It is the priority problem. Referring to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the lowest tier is about physiological needs, which are water, food, air, shelter, sleep and clothing. Only air and sleep are free. Happiness about friendship, family and self-actualization is on the top and the third tier. In other words, we need money to satisfy our basic requirement of living so that we can have extra time and effort to achieve higher level of happiness. How can someone be happy when he or she can only live from hand to mouth? When our financial condition is secured, we can afford to live a comfortable lifestyle, which can reduce stress and anxiety. In conclusion, we can be happy if we have sufficient money. We just can't survive without money.
"We just wanna make the world dance
forget about the price tag"
The well-known song sang by Jessie J talked about stop measuring anything with money and just forget about the money. In the first verse, she mentioned that "Seem like everybody's got a price, I wonder how they sleep at night." It emphasizes that people only care about money and cannot event sleep tight. What we should do is to relax and smile for a while. From her perspective, money cannot buy us happiness since people are so serious in living their life that they "got shades on their eyes" and therefore they cannot have a good time. She suggested us to slow down and enjoy the moment so that we can be happy. Love and magic are the keys.
I understand her point of view and I respect it. However, it is actually not realistic. Everything in our life is related to money. We cannot stop caring about it. Undoubtedly, everyone want to pursue hedonism. The ultimate goal of life is happiness. Consequently, we do everything to make ourselves feel good. For example, dressing up, eating our favorite food, purchasing our dream car, etc. All these things can be completed by -- Money! It is a tool to achieve happiness. On the other hand, it is also true that people work so hard to make a living and they become extremely stressful and anxious. Still, they just want to increase their living standard and live happily. Money cannot buy some parts of happiness but money can definitely satisfy your material life. When your material needs are fulfilled, your spiritual life will also be contended for sure. As you have extra time to chase your dream and do not need to worry about earning money, you can also develop a hobby and improve mental health.
Let's just admit that money can buy happiness!
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