Well, another one of those philosophical articles for you, my loyal readers. However, in order for you to understand why I am writing about this, let's back it up about two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, I took a new job, hang on scratch that, three new jobs. Two jobs in the industry I know best (the wonderful world of golf), the other, more of a hobby I decided to see if it can make me some side cash (call me DJ Chris The Kid).
All in all, they are the furthest things from full-time jobs. That is my life now, post-graduation. After a 60+ hour full-time job immediately graduating college that lasted a solid five months, these three part-time jobs is now my full-time "moneymakers".
However, don't let this fool you into thinking I am making that moolah, that's far from the truth. All in all, if you did the math on my jobs, I'd be lucky enough to break $22,000 in a year. For a single person in the United States, that puts me $10K over the poverty line, but $6K less than the national salary average from people in the age range of 20-24. If you want to put it in simpler terms, I am surviving, but definitely not thriving.
As depressing as this sounds, as little money as I am making, for some odd reason I am a lot happier than I have been in my post-graduate career than ever. Sure, I am worried about bills, feeding myself, rent, but who isn't? At 23 years old, I somehow have a roof on my head, clothes on my back, food on the table, and managed to do all of it without having a mental breakdown (yet).
I had one of my managers at work give me advice, the advice was simple, if you're happy doing something, regardless if it makes money or not, keep doing it, it'll pay off in the long run. Again, the advice was simple, but I am still skeptical. Then I thought about something completely random.
Remember the Kanye West lyric, "money isn't everything, not having it is"? It's entirely true in this scenario, yeah sure, money is important, but it sure can't replace everything, at least I think that's what I am getting from it. Throughout all this thinking, I finally came to a conclusion on this topic, and I will reveal it to you now.
With my pursuit of happiness, I already know most likely I won't make the most money, but I will definitely be happy if this pursuit becomes reality. I learned after pursuing money that it's really not worth it if it affects your happiness, and although money can ease the pain, it's only temporary. Whatever you're going after, keep going. Yes, money is important, but you probably need a lot less than you think, and once you come to this idea, it is somewhat freeing in the sense the world is now your oyster.
