There are days where I imagine what I would be doing if I did not have to worry about money at all.
I mean, there are levels to this, and I’m not talking about screw-you money. I’m talking more along the lines of no-stress money, if such a thing actually exists.
I’ve been told by people who are wealthy, or who have been wealthy, that money and stress are tied at the hip. But I think that is also a matter of perspective, and perhaps an active mental practice we fail to do.
Someone who is worried about where their next meal is coming from will probably never be able to understand why a wealthy person is so stressed out because they can’t get a reservation at their favorite restaurant.
But I digress.
The point I’m trying to make, or the idea I’m trying to share, is that I find it productive to imagine what I would be doing, what I would actually love to be doing, if I could pick anything from the menu.
We say, and I’ve said it myself, that it would be amazing to just relax at the beach, drink piña coladas, and do absolutely nothing.
But I also know myself well enough to know that would get very old, very quickly.
Just the other night, I was sharing a drink and a laugh with my older brother, and I asked him what he would be doing if he did not have to worry about money.
We laughed, because both of us pretty much agreed.
We would be doing experiments.
Building a windmill. Finding a sustainable water source. Trying to automate the whole farm. Maybe dabbling in aquaponics. All controlled by computers, of course.
Because why not?
Why put weight on your own back? Why choose to fight a battle when the spoils are already there? Why struggle when you can live a good life without struggling at all?
Why?
This next part is more of a suspicion than anything else, but I’m pretty confident there is an evolutionary trait hiding somewhere in there.
It feels somewhat intuitive to me that ancient humans would have fared better if they were always working toward improvement, and if they relished the exploration and development of ideas.
Technologies, after all, are born out of necessity. And let’s remember that a sharp rock was a technological advance.
But technology also requires people who are crazy, curious, or perhaps just stupid enough to try something that has never been tried before.
Maybe that is why I find this whole philosophical exercise so interesting.
If money was no longer the problem, what would remain?
For me, apparently, it would be building things, experimenting, automating things that probably don't need to be automated, and generally making a mess of the farm while trying to invent something that may or may not work.
And honestly, that sounds like a pretty good life.
So let me put the question back on you.
If you did not have to worry about money, what would you be doing?
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