(November 12, 2019)

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been led to believe that money would solve most of your issues.  And also if you’re like me, you’ve heard an annoying amount of times that money doesn’t equal happiness.  Let’s go ahead and get this cleared up right now-money will not make you happy, but it can take care of a lot of problems.  It can also create them.  And anyone who says it doesn’t make life easier is a liar.  With that being said, it is becoming increasingly more clear to me as time goes on, that wealth is not as significant a virtue as I once thought.  In fact, there are other far more important qualities a person can seek that are totally free.  In the grand scheme of things, being WELL connected, WELL spoken, WELL educated and WELL traveled can take you further than financial wealth ever could.  I like to call this enriched way of living “WELLth.”

Instead of putting such a heavy emphasis on chasing money, I’ve found there’s a far bigger return on investment in focusing on making yourself a more well-rounded individual.  The more you are out seeing the world, learning new things and meeting new people, you are naturally increasing your chances for financial gain.  The odds of meeting someone of great influence are increased, thus leading to your ultimate goal. 

In a nutshell, if you want to achieve a certain quality of life, you must become a quality person.  Begin the journey by educating yourself as much as possible.  A narrow-minded individual will only be able to maneuver one narrow path in life, while someone who broadens their horizons does exactly that for the direction their life can take.  Read books, take classes, visit museums, learn a new skill or hobby- all these things are going to introduce you to more and more like-minded people.  And it’s true what they say: the more you know, the more you grow.  The most successful people in the world share a few things in common and being well-educated is one of them.  Basically, stop turning your brain into mush by getting all your information from social media.  Stay up-to-date on current events from unbiased news sources and do something that stimulates your brain every day.  These things will make you a great conversationalist and that is the kind of person people want to be around.  You don’t have to be a genius or an expert on a topic; I find it far more beneficial to know a little about a lot of things than a lot about a few. 

Do your best to speak with proper grammar.  This sounds pretentious but hear me out.  Being from the south, we ALL have an accent that can’t be denied.  Accents are attractive and cute and add character; lazy grammar is not.  You don’t have to hide where you’re from or start speaking with a British accent, just try to reel it in a bit and correct some bad habits. Save the slang or colloquialisms for personal conversations with people you’re comfortable speaking to.  When meeting new people, don’t you want to make the best impression possible?  Introducing yourself while using double negatives or sending an email that is full of grammatical errors can falsely imply you’re not intelligent.  Learn the difference between “your and you’re” and “to/too/two.”  And try to learn a new word every day to work into casual conversation.  One of my favorite apps on my phone is Word of the Day.  Every morning I open it and there’s a new word and definition to work into daily conversation, expanding my vocabulary and giving the impression that I am far better educated than my public school background would suggest.  I think it’s far more impressive to people when they find out I’ve worked hard to educate myself rather than having been raised in an environment of privilege from birth. 

While it may seem hard to be a well-travelled individual when you’re lacking funds, there are ways around this.  First, re-check your priorities.  We are all guilty of saying we don’t have money for a trip abroad which can run around $2000, but we’re carrying the newest iPhone in our purse or playing call of duty on the latest gaming system.  If you want to take that trip set aside a fund, and when making purchases, ask yourself if it’s beneficial short-term or long-term or is there a way to cut corners and get by cheaper.  You can also become well-travelled without having even left the house.  We are each so blessed (or cursed) to have the entire world at our fingertips.  We have the gift of knowledge literally in the palm of our hands, and yet we use it for such mundane activities as arguing over politics and sharing sad animal and child abuse news stories.  If you want to explore Thailand, simply type that word into your search engine and take off.  You can take a virtual tour of the beaches in real time, you can learn the history and culture and even converse with people who live there.  And you can do this ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.  Locally, try to explore different cultures within your own town.  I grew up never eating ethnic food and now my favorite pastime is trying exotic cuisine from around the world.  Break away from the chains and visit the authentic, family-owned restaurants.  Talk to the people who run it and listen to their stories and traditions. 

There is a saying that has resonated with me for awhile and I want to share it with you all.  “If you’re doing the best out of your group of friends, you need to find new friends.”  This comes across as snotty or cruel, but it’s not implying you should throw away those who are not rich and successful.  However, it is very true that you are the sum of the people around you.  Evaluate the things you want out of life and take a quick inventory of who you’re spending all your time with.  Are these people on the same journey?  Do they want to elevate their lives?  Do they motivate you to do better or do they drag you down and drain you?  I would rather be surrounded by people who inspire me to work harder and do better to match their successes than those who are complacent, small-minded or worse in a downward spiral.  Begin to widen your social circles and become a “yes” person and you will naturally increase your odds of achieving a fulfilling and WELLthy life.