✧ What is wealth? ✧

The other day, I went into a mom and pop store and gave the manager a $20 for something that was $17.50. When I told him to keep the change, he looked at me and said, "It's ok, I'm rich." I was super caught off guard by his response. I asked, "like rich in life? or rich financially?" To which he replied - "both."

This got me thinking, what does it really mean to be rich? What defines a life of wealth and abundance? To some it means financially, to others it means filling your life with an abundance of things that make you happy - friends, family, food, activities you love, creative outlets, health, laughter - and to some, it's a combination of both.

A few years ago I chose to invest in myself in a way I never had before, financially speaking. But what I didn't realize at the time was that the investment I chose to make wasn't actually about money at all, it was about declaring my value in this one life I have and choosing what a rich life full of abundance and fulfillment actually means to me, rather than letting someone or something else define it for me.

The big investment I made was for my tuition at the Health Coach Institute to receive my health coach certification. At the time, I was working full time at KPMG and my schedule was packed (#thataccountantlife) 🤓 But I was determined to make this work, and realized that for my entire life I have always chosen the “safe” option, and it was time to start enjoying my life and love what I do. While contemplating the investment, I remember asking myself, would you rather spend your life dreading going into work every morning or choose to make this investment in yourself and strive to truly love your life? (Thankfully, I chose the second one 🙏🏼).

I had this huge epiphany that YOU get to determine your own happiness, that vacations don’t have to be the only time you get to relax and enjoy yourself – that I have control over my lifestyle. And what was the point of going through life if I’m not enjoying it? Of working my ass off at a job I didn't truly like just to be able to pay for my next vacation in order to escape the job and daily grind… just to dread coming home back to "real life", and then repeat the same thing over and over again.

“I realized that by not pursuing my passion, I would LITERALLY be making the choice to not enjoy what I am doing from Monday through Friday (+ the Sunday scaries) for the rest of my life.”

And then I thought, we have one life, so why would I want to waste it when I could be living my best life - which when you think about is so messed up that our society thinks like this! I realize now that wealth, both financially and in life, don't have to be two completely separate identities. My hypothesis? Maybe the reality is that when you find true abundance and happiness in your life, the financial wealth starts to gravitate toward you, it's attracted to your positive vibrations you're putting into the universe, and it starts to flow in, almost as a side affect, as though it's trying to match the richness that you display in the other areas of your life.

What made my decision to take the plunge and make the investment? I realized that a couple thousand dollars is truly a small price to pay for the opportunity to create an entire lifetime of happiness. And to me, that's what wealth is all about.

(disclaimer: this is not me in the picture, but this picture is what sparked me to write this post ✨)