MollysBrother.com

Tired of Keeping Up With The Joneses

I live in Los Angeles, right at the foot of the Hollywood Hills. A day doesn’t pass without looking towards those overbuilt hills and seeing houses and real estate that are worth tens of millions of dollars. I live in Los Angeles, the center of the film industry. I used to work in Hollywood and I used to be envious of all the cars that everyone was driving–their new BMWs or Hummers or Mercedes. I focused my attention on keeping up with all the Joneses I came into contact with.

Until one day, I figured it out. All of it was an illusion. It was a phantasm that danced in front of my eyes and made me envious and frustrated. I was jealous because it seemed like everyone was earning astronomical salaries. Their clothes reflected six-figure incomes. Their cars reflected it. Their vacations reflected it. It seemed like everyone I came into contact with every day was on the verge of retiring before thirty. I didn’t understand how they were able to have all of these things in life and I felt like I had too little to show for it.

And then, it dawned on me: They were more willing to live with the reality behind the illusions than I was. They could live with the overdraft fees and the credit card bills. They could live with the stress of having to juggle their payments to keep their water on and their electricity buzzing and food in their stomachs and incurring an increasing amount of credit card debt. They could live with the “money” arguments they had with their wives or husbands.

Now, when I see the stranger stepping out of his luxury car, I am happy for him/her for having their toy. And I’m happy because I know that, often times, there is more to the financial story than I–or any of us–will ever know. And I’m happy for me because I don’t need to chase the illusory definition of success anymore. The Joneses? In this increasingly celebrity driven culture, I’ll never be able to keep up with them. And I’ve decided I won’t spend my entire life chasing them.