How Much Is Too Much Work Or Pain?

I listened to the video yesterday on how much money is too much money. It reminded me of a recent conversation I had with my daughter.

She was feeling sorry for herself and said “I wish I had my best life now. I wish there were no chores or pain.” Honestly, I have no idea where she got the first sentence, but I promise there is no book by that title or author in our home!

After hearing this type of phrase come from her lips a couple times, I had a conversation with her. I took the conversation in two directions. I told her she was wishing for a fairy tale. Real life is full of chores and pain. We opened the Bible and read Genesis chapter 3. When God pronounced judgment He specifically said that we would have to work hard and have pain in our most meaningful relationships.

This is not a “happily ever after” ending to the story. But what I wanted to do is change her expectations. If you expect life to be one thing and it is another, you are destined to be disappointed. Could I change the expectations of a seven year old by reading the Bible to her? Maybe over time, but I wanted to press this home sooner than that.

So I also told her that all good things have work associated with them. She likes having a cat. The cat needs fed every day, needs water and needs the litter box cleaned. If she wants a life without work or chores, she can’t have a cat.

She likes living in a house. Houses take maintenance, cleaning, lawn mowing, and on and on. If she doesn’t want chores, she shouldn’t live in a house.

The same could be said for so many things. I told her that the more good things you have in your life, the more work and chores you have.

How does this relate to having too much money? Is it even a thing? (I would argue that it is, but for different reasons than the regressive left.)

The first thing is that the more things you have, the more work and chores you have. Having more money doesn’t necessarily mean your life is easier. You can argue that you can afford to pay others to do the chores, but then you have more people to deal with, which can also be hard work, too.

There must be a sweet spot where you have enough money to avoid too much financial hardship, but not enough to add too much stress and work. But can anyone define where that is and would we be content living in that situation?

Life is hard. Money doesn’t change that. Some people don’t believe the fairy tale can become reality for themselves, but still believe it for others. Mark Zuckerberg’s life is arguably amazing, but so is mine. We both have daily pressures and concerns. We both have responsibilities and problems. Some days I struggle with keeping everything functioning in my little world. I can’t imagine juggling everything he juggles. Money may make some things easier in his life, but makes other things much harder.

It really comes back to expectations. If you expect the fairy tale and get the horror movie, you’ll be extremely disappointed. But if your expectations align with reality, you’ve got a greater chance at being happy.

So can a person have too much money? Yes. Who is the best person to determine that? The individual. And the best part is that there is an amazingly simple solution to the problem. Just give the excess away. No one is forcing you to keep it!!! You hold the key right there in your hand.

Lastly, I just realized that I missed something in my discussion with my daughter. We talked about every good thing in our lives requiring work. Expecting those things without work is laziness. It’s a character flaw. Striving for efficiency is good, but laziness is bad.

It’s easy to look at the far left’s view on wealth as being naive, unrealistic and lazy. All people are prone to these faults. I want myself and my family to have the right expectations and character to face life. I have a better chance at achieving that in my life and with my family than with Mark Zuckerberg or any other person regardless of their political leaning. We would all do better focusing on our own lives and less on meddling in others. After all, jealousy and meddling are character flaws, too.