work.buy.consume

(I am a big fan of theories.)

One of my favourite things is when someone quietly says: ‘So. I have this theory.’ And then everyone leans in, just slightly, to listen a little bit closer. Brilliant.

So, folks. I have this theory:

A person’s need for money is inversely proportional to their happiness. (Or, the happier you become, the less money you spend).

Obviously (and a little embarrassingly), this is not my theory because lots of people know it. But it seems lots of people forget it too.

I work with wonderful women who tell me what they would love to be doing, what would make them beautifully content, if only they could escape the soul destroying job that finances their (not necessarily very satisfying) existence.

Now, I’m a realist. I know you need money for food and for drinks at your Favourite.Place and for just.because.flowers on a saturday morning. (I get that.)

But I also know that when you start feeling happier, you stop spending as much money. And it’s not because you’re filling your emotional void with positive feelings rather than costly items, as some self-help books would have you believe.

Well, you know what, it might be partly to do with that.

But when I was living my Previous Life and burning money while I tried to save, that suggestion used to annoy me. I would feel patronised (how does my spending money excessively even halfway-suggest that I am emotionally incomplete?) And frustrated (and even if that was slightly true, how would I even be supposed to just decide to go and fill that void in other, more positive ways?) And really uninspired (I don’t actually even want a life filled with boring clothes and no aesthetically.pleasing.stuff and no fun.)

But for some reason, it’s not the way it works. I can’t even identify where I made savings: I still had clothes that made me happy; I still went out; I still had things around me that inspired me and lit.up.my.life. The difference was, I was happier and I seemed to have extra cash.

(Anyway, like I was saying. It’s just a theory.)