A Small Fortune
August 21st, 2010 | 
Author: A Small Fortune
My life has certainly had its ups and downs. I’ve ridden the roller coaster so to speak especially concerning the subject of money. There have been times when I’ve been very well off and there have been a few times when I’ve been forced to sleep in my car. Most of us tend to worry about money which is to say “Will we have enough of it?” But just how much is enough? Many of us tend to equate having money with having security; but seldom does money prepare us for the socalled broadside accident. Money can sometimes solve certain crises but it seldom offers redemption in a truly lifechanging situation.
Many people say “If I could only win the lottery…” But research suggests that lottery winners often are far more miserable after their big win than they were before it happened. Still many of us maintain that we’d take our chances in that regard.
Even before I was forty years old I had acquired a good deal of money most of it coming in a relatively short period of time. The truth is that for me while it did change how I used my time somewhat at least for a while it did not bring me any resounding comfort nor did I feel any different than I had before acquiring it nor did I look any different. What did change markedly was how my friends treated me not for the better sad to say. I thought long and hard about the question of having money because as I’ve said I’d been down and out more than once. After due deliberation and a couple of very nice holidays the prospect of having a large bank account proved unimpressive to me. What’s more I found it made me lazy and complacent. In the end I found that for me having money was actually a detriment not an asset and I determined to be rid of itASAP!
That was not the difficult part as you might imagine. Money is easy to be rid of if that is your intention. After a few years of doing exactly as I pleased with no yoke around my neck I managed to accomplish my goal: I was once again without significant funds and I had to figure out once more how to make a living. Even so I felt a great weight lifted off my shoulders.
Ah I can almost hear the chorus: “I’d be happy to give his situation a try!” But I assure you I’m not lying nor am I rationalizing poor financial decisions nor would I take back the spending spree that landed me once more in the ranks of the socalled working class. In fact I thank myself nearly every day that I threw that albatross off my neckeven when I’m broke and wondering how to pay the rent a few days out.
Many of us come from cultures where success is measured in terms of what we have not necessarily who we are. I came to live on the Island of Corfumy long nurtured dreamwith very little money. I might have come sooner than I actually did and had I done so I would have had substantial funds to last me a long time. But that’s not how it happened. For some reason unknown to me at the time I seemingly had to wait to do what I really wanted to do until I was financially least ready to do it. I could not take the easy road so to speak because what I really wanted and probably what I really needed was a challenge. Daytoday challenge is what really turns my crank. I thrive on making something out of nothing. When I’m engaged when I’m being of use I feel great; when I’m lolling in affluence and being unproductive I literally feel ill. Perhaps that is my strange little personality quirk but I do recognize it for what it is and I have learned to respect what my most basic nature keeps trying to tell me.
These days I live pretty much week by week which seldom bothers me. I have not had a real holiday in six years which also seldom bothers me. I work very diligently every day but I do not work to acquire money; I work simply to be of use. Of course everybody needs enough to get by but if we stop to think about it we probably need far less than we try to convince ourselves that we need. Some may say that money is the measure of accomplishment and in our modernday society that is at least partly truebut only partly. I much prefer the satisfaction of creating something that others appreciate to being able to buy the next widget. And to my great delight I’ve found that the culture here on this beautiful little island in the Mediterranean seems to be concerned far less with what one has than it is about who one is. Is that some sort of irony or did my subconscious know something all along? Did it steer me on this unlikely course simply to give me the opportunity for a major wakeup call? I can only smile and ponder such a notion.
As I write this account the sum total of my wealth is measured in two figures. Not much money by today’s standards. But I’ve been in worse straights and I’m hardly worried because I find that I am wealthy today in ways I was not even aware of previously. I am involved in a loving relationship notice I did not say that I “have” a loving relationship I live in a beautiful place among genuinely hospitable and often charitable people I do good work lots and lots of it and I understand that chasing phantom redress is a not only a futile pursuit it can sometimes be a downright denigrating one. What a lucky guy I am! I feel strong and secure. I am not afraid of the future. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow might bring and more importantly what I might bring to it. I guess I’d call that a “small fortune!
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;David Ross is an author and publisher.
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