In this day and age, the lifestyle of the rich and famous is glamorized to seem as if swimming in cash causes all of life’s problems to just disappear. However, this is a common misconception. Money is temporary, unstable and easily corrupted; it’s like a ticking time bomb. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I most definitely don’t want an expiration date on my happiness. Not to say that money can’t solve a lot of problems or relieve stress. Personally, I know with a few thousand dollars a lot of my problems would go away, but money can’t buy happiness.

This philosophy is one that has been instilled in me since I was a little girl. Having grown up in a low-income household, my family was big on making me proud of what we did have, each other. Sure, money can buy you that three bedroom, two bath, two story house with an extended porch and in-ground pool; but it can’t build a home. Money can’t buy the feeling you get when you’re around loved ones, or the stories told around a fire on humid summer nights. People need to understand that, if one puts their happiness into something so unstable, it will not last.

What really got me thinking about this ideology is a conversation I had with my someone rather close to me. Their family was one that didn’t have to always stress about finances but never spent time together; instead their parents would just give them whatever they wanted so they wouldn’t be bothered. This carried over into adulthood where, without the money to buy the stuff that “makes them happy,” they are miserable.

Money will always be a struggle, no matter which way you look at it. Happiness is found in the things money can’t buy, friends, family or experiences. After all, the phrase, “the best things in life are priceless,” was not created without a reason behind it.