So what comes first, time to do what you want or money to do what you want?
As of recently, I'm developing this mental model through which money is pictured as a sponge on the waters of time.
The sponge can help you float above water and not get drowned in the relentless current of daily survival.
Maybe also, with the help of the sponge, you can move faster across vast distances within a relatively short amount of time as opposed to having to traverse this same distance without the sponge, which would probably take decades of struggle, sacrifice, and uncertainty.
A very logical and almost predictable answer, especially given the modern era we live in, is that money to do what you want comes first.
With money, you can adjust your time to do what you want later on. You can buy back your mornings, purchase your weekends, and eventually afford the luxury of choice itself.
For the most part, having time without money isn't an ideal situation to be in for the modern person.
Time without resources becomes a prison of limitations. Because you have endless hours to contemplate dreams you cannot afford to pursue and opportunities that remain perpetually out of reach.
Yes, I understand there are myriads of simple things I can do that would bring me much satisfaction and fulfillment without having money.
One of them could be taking a bath in the ocean, then watching a sunset, hiking back through coastal trails, breathing deeply, and feeling connected to something larger than the economic machinery that typically governs our days.
If the goal is just to live at the periphery of modern existence, then such simple pleasures might suffice.
But there needs to be an element of being practical when one decides to live in the world and not just be of the world.
Healthcare, housing, education, supporting loved ones are fundamental necessities that require financial resources. The standard for some of these has been raised to a level that what was once considered adequate now feels very insufficient.
I learned recently that money operates like a charged force field around us.
It's like coming in contact with a charged force that, as amoral as it may be, is tilted more towards the darker sides of reality than the brighter sides.
I think a possible reason for that is the divorce of sorts between spiritual values and material pursuits.
We've somehow separated meaning from earning, purpose from profit, and in doing so, we've created a system where financial success often comes at the expense of deeper fundamentals.
Money amplifies what we already are, and what we already are is tilted more towards self-interest, competition, and short-term thinking, at least on a collective level.
I wonder if we've also collectively forgotten that work was also meant as a form of service.
Sacred purpose has more or less been removed from economic activity, basically.
It also has been forgotten that economic systems were once embedded in communities, rituals, and shared values that gave them moral direction.
Now, we've reduced work to mere transaction and stripped meaning from labor, then wonder why so many people feel empty despite material success.
We need money to buy time, but we spend our time earning money.
We need time to discover what we truly want, but we need money to have the luxury of that discovery.
It's a chicken-and-egg dilemma that each generation must somehow solve anew.
Taking a bit of a step back or rather an above view, the underlying choice is actually the freedom to live according to one's deepest values and to contribute meaningfully to the world around them.
Money does help us float above the waters of time. Floating isn't the same as swimming toward something worthwhile.
Especially in our modern age, some with money are quite lost. Picture perfect lives with expensive toys that evidently can't fill the void where purpose should be.
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