…and why giving and serving will help us sleep better than any mattress ever will.
After seeing that the How To Live Rich (Part 1) blog post was read nearly 5 times more than another other blog post that I wrote, I thought I would expand on the things that make us rich and give an updated version since the last one was more about materials.
Not being materialistic, but about buying select quality items that last and make you feel rich.
I need to start with the prerequisite that is the main starting point for this discussion.
Living rich can only be defined by you.
Yet how in the world are you supposed to remain loyal to your definition of living rich when you are constantly bombarded with images, posts and status updates that seem to show that everyone else is living the most epic lives ever?
We can start with the statistics and news headlines that reveal how miserable most online influencers are.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5620939/The-6-reasons-social-media-making-UNHAPPY.html
http://behindthequest.com/instagram-depression/
I don’t like to be the negative nelly around here however my default usually associates those who post nothing but highlights of their life are just masking their true pain.
Life may be experienced in the high points of adventure, travel and epic landscapes however life is lived in the every day balance of juggling LIFE.
Human connection lies amongst the top sources for living rich.
I was always fascinated by the quote “live a life free from vacation” so one day we moved to a vacation destination to live out the rest of our lives. It felt amazing to live every day in paradise. However, life still occurs. Tragedies happen. Relationships dissolve. Disappointment is still lurking.
One day I seen a hashtag that said #iLivewhereYouVacation and it made me upset.
This verbal attack essentially summarizes what photo posts say to us with every scroll.
I live a life better than you do and I do it all the time and you don’t. Almost as if the high life is free from problems that only those on the bottom deal with…(and most of them ARE on vacation lol).
The toll this has on our subconscious is immense. Many of us don’t realize the impact of this.
Since writing the last blog post, I have had a unique look inside of a life that truly challenges what it really is like to live rich…from the view point of those who are wealthy (which is way beyond rich).
I have been fortunate to meet and become close to a local billionaire family that challenges the status quo of what it is REALLY like to live rich.
Its humbling to see a family who could stroke a check for any car on the market, yet he drives a 12 year old BMW truck and his wife drives a nice, 5 year old CLS class Mercedes.
With all the insane home building you see going on in our community, you would think they live in the largest home in South Florida with Ocean vistas and top of the line everything.
Although their home is VERY NICE (per anyones standards), they have lived in the same home since 1983 in which he knocked on 100 doors in the area he wanted to live in and asked to buy their home from them.
When you think of those who truly live rich, you don’t normally associate “rich” people knocking on doors to get things done.
100 foot yacht in the back yard? Not a chance. How about a 25 foot pontoon boat? Yup, thats them.
Armani suit every day? LOL. He literally must have 10 of the exact same color shirts with his initials on the sleeves. Just like Steve Jobs, he wears the exact same outfit. Every. Single. Day.
Loius Vuitton shoes? Yeah right. This dude goes for comfort and I think they are New Balance.
Having met them through some of my charity contacts, the relationship has a unique difference than most of my relationships which largely stem from business.
To summarize what living rich is to this family, is done so in one word.
Serving.
They live to serve humanity. I don’t know the exact amounts of people they serve each week, however I have repeatedly seen them show up to our homeless serve program every. single. week.
Ive seen them pay for surgeries of those less fortunate.
Ive seen them pay for expenses for those who deliberately put themselves into bad situations without having any judgement whatsoever toward those individuals.
Ive seen them buy cars for single moms to regain stability in life.
Ive seen them buy equipment for recovering men that helped those in recovery regain the confidence to enter society as a valuable contributor.
Even though they are blessing people financially, this is how they serve and give. Not only do they give their time but they give their money too. (For people who don’t have a lot of money, is easy to give your time, however for people who do have a lot of money, time is usually something they don’t have that much excess of, so to see them do both is truly humbling to a guy like me who easily disqualifies myself from giving cause I dont have an abundance of time nor money….or so we tell ourselves.)
Ive personally experienced them texting me at 6:45am asking me if I want to walk on the beach with them.
I still receive texts weekly asking me what they can do for me.
Who am I to a billionaire?
I have little to offer with business advice for a family worth 1.9 billion.
I can only offer my time to serve along side them…
and thats how we live rich. Together.
So there you have a billionaire standing next to a homeless man, both with humble hearts, the desire to serve and no separation of class regardless of their financial background. Both from two opposite ends of the financial pendulum, experiencing the exact same “richness” of life.
Reflecting back on the question that was asked in the first post…brings forth an amazing discovery in just how exactly you live rich.
How do you live rich if you DO have the expendable income?
So here “we” sit on this side of the financial pendulum and are always thinking, “If I just had more money, Id be happier” or “If I could just make more money, I could make a difference in the lives of others”.
Its a stark contrast when you look over and see someone who could hand out $100 bills all day and they are still looking for ways to experience the “richness of life”…
It makes you ponder.
I have had several conversations with him regarding his desire to show up and serve knowing that he can financially change the lives of many people.
It is very clear that just cause he can hand out money to people who don’t have much, he knows that him serving and being present is where he and the homeless people actually experience more richness as to where giving them money actually enables them to keep living in their current circumstance which diminishes the richness.
It is my hope that we lose sight of having to have the next technology gadget or newest car in order to feel rich.
Im sure you can look back and realize that that new car, becomes “old” in less than 30 days…and now you have a payment coming in for the next 60 months that you are obligated to pay. To me, this is not living rich.
It is my hope to challenge the status quo that says you have to be seen with A class people, have mountain top views with private flights all over the world.
If you need help, just watch Yahoo news headlines to see the weekly meltdowns of celebrities who are coming unstitched at the seams trying to keep up with their “riches”.
Meanwhile, the “richness” of life passes you by.
So aside from buying nice things like quality mattresses, good clothing, having close relationships, sleeping well and doing what matters we can now validate that the people who have the absolute means to live rich, experience life’s greatest riches by serving.
What are the activities, disciplines and things you do or have that make you feel the richest? Take a moment and reflect on what you do that makes you feel rich. Even if its not in alignment with these two blog posts.
The best way to thank me for this post is to engage with me so we both become better.
Share them below or go here and post them right to my wall.
P.S. This post was not created to glorify our wealthy friend however I feel I was able to paint a better picture by allowing you to peek into the life of someone who can easily obtain all that society believes will make us happy and to explain what I see behind the scenes that really does make them live as rich as they are.