Living The Good Life: What It Means To You
We all want to live “The Good Life” but that’s a pretty vague term. That’s for good reason. An article about what The Good Life is would be hard, because The Good Life can mean different things to different people.
Instead of trying to talk about what “The Good Life” means, this article will suggest some things that you can think about while determining what The Good Life Means to you. This is important for many people to figure out at some point in their lives, especially for younger readers who are trying to set goals and make plans for the future.
Is Money Important For Comfort?
“Living the Good Life” is often associated with having lots of money but a great deal of money is not necessarily the key to happiness – though some money is.
There’s an age-old adage that says that money can’t buy happiness. There should be a new adage that money can insure happiness. Piles of gold in the bank won’t make you happy but knowing that you won’t be financially devastated by an adverse medical condition or a bout of bad weather can certainly lend some peace of mind.
In most places, even people who don’t make very much money can have access to healthcare, but they don’t receive access to other forms of safety nets like home owner’s insurance.
What Kind Of House Do You Want?
The kind of home that suits your desires is also an important consideration. Larger homes are more expensive to buy but they are also more expensive in terms of property taxes and utilities, as well as more expensive to insure.
Large homes are still associated with wealth and status, but they aren’t as practical or as necessary as they once were considering the fact that technological advances have made space less important. Media in particular now require far less space than they once did. Movies, music, books, all once took up entire rooms in some homes, but all of these things can now be stored and consumed on the cloud in a way that takes up very little physical space.
Of course, some people have large homes but not a vast income. In many cases these people are emotionally attached to their particular house and doing all of the manual upkeep that the house requires is part of why they love it, even if they are barely keeping up.
Some people prefer living in smaller spaces or even choose to live in mobile homes that don’t have the space of larger homes, but which require less upkeep and costs and make it easier to move from place to place without worrying too much about buying or selling large pieces of real-estate.
Because large homes have a cultural association with wealth it can seem strange to think of people living in smaller homes while having strong financial security, but not putting lots of money into a grand home makes it easier to save money to spend on immaterial things.
What Role Does Work Play In Your Life?
Work is also a more dynamic factor in living the Good Life than we may think. Most people don’t particularly enjoy work but are able to find work that they enjoy because they can find meaning in it or because they enjoy the people that they work with. These people are often able to find flexible jobs that allow them to make less money but spend more time with family and friends.
Other people on the other hand, find that work gives them a sense of purpose. These people may enjoy have high-stress and very demanding jobs. While it may seem to the rest of us that these people must not be living the Good Life, having a less demanding or less important job would make these people less happy.
There are a lot of things that we are told are required to live the Good Life. Not everybody needs a fortune, a mansion, or a high-profile job to be happy. Maybe you do need some of these things, or all of them. If that’s what the Good Life means to you then that’s fine. You should understand however, that all of these things have tradeoffs.