Enough

I am in my late 50s. I have been in my 20s and 30s working to get ahead in my career and my husband's career.  I get it, but I am not there anymore.  There comes a point in your life, better sooner than later in which having enough is enough. Since I have gone into sales rather later in my life, I realize that those in sales are more suseptible to this than others.

There is something peaceful about being satisfied with what you have.  It is something that I don't see in the community of which I have been living in the past six years.  Perhaps it is the age, perhaps it is the Las Vegas culture, perhaps it is the sales industry.  Whatever it is, it makes me sick.

Some years ago when Richard and I were in our early 40's, we contemplated Richard going back to school to get his MBA.  He already had a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering.  We seriously considered it, but after giving it some thought, we realized the limited number of years that we would have left with our children, and how much time he would miss with them during the time he was either in school or working or studying just didn't make it worth it.  So we made the decision that although he COULD get his MBA, we chose for him not to pursue that course.  If we were wondering where our next meal would come from, we might have chosen differently, but we have enough.  If we really wanted something, we could afford it.  We might have to sacrifice one thing for another, but we could get what we really wanted.

Our children probably would not have told you that we had 'enough' at the time, but children cannot always make those kinds of decisions with clarity.  My children had to work for some things if they were to get them.  I think that was a good thing, not a bad one.

If some people knew what we made, they might have thought that we weren't wealthy, and we weren't, but we had enough.  Some other people might have felt that we made a great deal.  It depends on your perspective for sure. Since we have lived around a variety of economic conditions through our years, it is easy for us to see what is necessary and what is not.

We made similar decisions when I decided to take a part-time teaching position rather than a full-time position for these exact reasons.  Eventually, I went full-time but I didn't make that decision based on the amount of money that would be made.  I made the decision because of the students that I knew and cared about as well as my family situation and situations at the school at which I taught.

I am not going to try to judge others and their choices in this way.  Everyone's situation is different, but you have to ask yourself, if you are at the point where getting more, buying more, in many cases just to impress someone else, it might be time to analyze your motivation. I can't tell others what to do or what to pursue in life, and I would never attempt to do so, but my advice to my own children would be to be satisfied with enough.  If you do, you will be much happier than if you are constantly reaching for something that you don't have.  You have to find a balance between being lazy and being too driven. I hope that we have found it.  I feel that we have.  It is a gift that I wish we could give to those around us, but all I can do is shake my head at the culture of materialism. It makes for very dissatified people, and they loose out on so much peace in their lives.  To me, it is very sad.