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Living Wealthy

By Brenda Weathers Hargroves


Living wealthy is the highest form of living well. Not rich in dollars, but wealthy in life. Career strategist, Joe Hodowanes, calls it living ‘the right life.’ To him, it means living “a life where you feel more like yourself, where you’re doing what you want to do…” He further states, “My own philosophy has always been that if you don’t truly own yourself, then you’re poor indeed.”


For me, the greatest satisfaction is the ability to do what I want, when I want. Achieving this goal doesn’t depend on how rich you are, but on whether you’re living your dream. You become wealthy in life when you’ve determined what is and isn’t important and when you understand the difference between your needs and wants.


Skillfully addressing your basic needs (food, shelter, safety) is difficult enough. It’s mastering those wants that can be challenging. A friend of mine uses the analogy of a man climbing a hill with a bag of rocks strapped on his back. The hill represents life and each rock represents a want.


Don’t get me wrong. We should all have wants. They provide encouragement and serve as rewards for accomplishing milestones. It’s also important to satisfy your wants because they are based on your values and shape who you are. Is living in a large, expensive home essential or are you comfortable inhabiting just enough space to meet your needs? Is owning a luxury vehicle essential or do you consider safety and the ability to get from Point A to Point B more crucial? Must you dress in the latest fashion or are you happy wearing clothes that are presentable and comfortable? Everyone’s needs are different but it’s safe to say the more wants you have the heavier your load. Only you can determine how much of a burden you’re willing to carry on your uphill climb.


OK, so how do you know when you’re living wealthy? You’ve reached living wealthy status when you’ve accomplished the ability to honestly access what’s important and become skilled at prioritizing. And much to our dismay, this process does not happen overnight.


You must experience a maturation period. It takes time to wrangle with critical personal and professional questions that will determine your well-being. What’s your preferred lifestyle and what life changes do you have to make to achieve it? How difficult is it going to be to make those changes? Career choices questions such as ‘what do you enjoy spending your time doing and can you support yourself doing it?’ come into play.


Living wealthy becomes more challenging when you are not simply considering yourself. The road to success becomes more complicated when your choices affect other family members. Where do you plan to live? How can you support your partner’s needs and wants? How many children do, or will you have? What part will you play in encouraging them to meet their goals?

Your definition of living wealthy changes over your lifetime. What’s important when you’re living single is different from when you’re raising a family or retired. Your needs and wants can shift from those of one person to several back to one again. Your priorities also change with age. As you get older, where you live, how much you work and how you spend your leisure time are very different from when you began your adult life.


Yep, living wealthy during adulthood through retirement is not easy. What can you do to determine if you are on the right track towards successfully reaching this status? Establish goals, create benchmarks and reward yourself. And last, most life-wealthy people believe in giving back, whether it’s making financial donations or volunteering. And many find satisfaction in doing both. They recognize and appreciate their membership in a special class of people and feel obliged to acknowledge the plight of those less fortunate.


So, how are you traveling the road to living wealthy? Add your wisdom in the comments.




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