The other day, I caught a bit of a podcast on Youtube featuring two annoying and very successful comediennes. One of them said something that grabbed my attention:
“I’m not good with money. Not in that I spend it unwisely, but I don’t care about it. If I have everything I need, I don’t get excited about getting more.”
She goes on to add “I don’t like it when rich people have side hustles.”
I could not agree more, and I found this to be wildly refreshing to hear. An American who can grasp the concept of Enough, who is not devoured by wanton desire for accumulation? My god!
Her friend, however, is quick to tell her that she needs to get over this.
“The Zoomers don’t care, they don’t judge it! [greed]. We need to get on board with that.”
It is wild to witness this kind of rationalization. Not exactly surprising on a podcast with a Toyota sponsorship, but still, it's a window into the twisted minds of those for whom Enough will never come.
If you’ve been reading RC for awhile, you know I am fascinated by the collective inability to find satisfaction.
The bottomless pit of common avarice.
I have written about the joy I find in a “small life”, my total disinterest in what other people define as success and the freedom that this affords me. Every day, in big and small ways, I am reminded of how many of us willingly place ourselves in the prison of desire, climb the endless blood-slicked ladder convinced we will reach the top.
Certain that the top exists.
One could see this as simple capitalist conditioning, but it is rooted in something deeper: a fear of both life and death. Careerism is a fear of living; it is a fear of the present moment, and it is a fear of the Self and spending time with one’s self.
It is a denial of death’s imminence and will.
A permanent state of hunger. It is the inability to recognize or feel contentment.
It is bargaining, hoping that what you sacrifice will be paid back, despite endless proof to the contrary.
I can think of no better word for it than Hell.
Still longing in your castle, an emptiness that can never be quelled.
The fucking opposite of winning.
Despite the tragic nature of it, I still find some perverse enjoyment in listening to people try to justify their greed. Perhaps because it only further proves my point.
Fifty-something women looking to Zoomers for moral clarity is a little absurd and kind of sad, but that is the nature of grasping for straws, the mental gymnastics required for defending such ugliness.
I always pay close attention when someone is talking about money and their relationship to it. Nothing is more revealing. I firmly believe you can learn everything you need to know about someone by asking them about money, what they consider to be too much or too little, and if they have ever sat with the concept of Enough.
Fulfillment without money makes people very uncomfortable. They don’t know what to do with it, with you.
This is because your contentment shines a much too bright light on their covetousness.
Integrity is always seen as an affront by those who have succumbed to their fears and who need you to be weak and thirsty, too.
Realism Confidence is a reader-supported publication. If you’d like to support my writing (or help me go to the dentist), please consider becoming a paid subscriber, buying a subscription for someone else, or, if you like what you’re reading, you can send me a tip via Paypal. Feel free to follow me here or here.
Thank you, and amen.