Many of us are prepared financially.
You most likely know your net worth, at least generally. You may have your assets and liabilities clearly defined. You may even have a hefty emergency fund, or at least a solid back up plan, to be prepared for the unexpected.
But, do you keep a balance sheet for your soul and know your self worth?
“Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.” – Mary McLeod Bethune
Money can buy us freedom and help us meet our basic needs and wants, but it will not comfort us or give us a hug. Just like we need responsible financial practices to provide a safety net for the unwelcomed events in life, we also need resilient souls to handle life’s toughest problems.
Things that are SOUL SUCKING:
- Cubicles (sitting, stale air, consistent temperature, unnatural lighting)
- Toxic relationships (competitiveness, jealousy, grudges)
- Boredom
- Conformity
- Debt
- Location dependence
- Staying in your comfort zone
- Busyness
- Greed
- Hate
- Identifying problems
- Selfishness
Things that are SOUL SAVING:
- Nature (movement, fresh air, temperature/weather variations, sunshine)
- Nurturing relationships (unconditional love, cooperation, forgiveness, acceptance)
- Passion
- Originality
- Financial flexibility
- Mobility
- Taking calculated risks
- Quiet contemplation
- Generosity
- Compassion
- Identifying solutions
- Self Interest, Self Care, Self Love
And remember, “money can help you fund your purpose, but it can’t help you find your purpose.”
How about you? Is your soul fully funded?
I love the idea of a fully funded soul! Right now my soul is definitely underfunded. I’ve been working too much and not giving myself enough of a break to manage stress. Fortunately, I’m scheduling a week stay-cation to recharge and balance out again.
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Good for you! The ‘stay-cation’ can actually be waaaay more soul saving than a hectic vacation of trying to see all the sights. Good for you!
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Contrary to Unconventional Sustainability, I think my soul is pretty well funded even though I work a lot. I definitely enjoy what I do, so work doesn’t really feel like work!
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Wow! That’s rare and…. AWESOME! I think that getting paid to do something that you would do for free (or don’t consider work) is the highest form of corporate success.
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I definitely have too much soul sucking in my life and not enough soul saving!!! If I had it my way I’d be on the beach everyday burying my toes in the sand and listening to the waves. Can you tell it’s been too long since I was last at the beach. I need to get there soon for my sanity 🙂
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Hi MSM! Sorry about the soul sucking… I have to say that I wouldn’t have thought that by reading your posts. I agree though, that I think we are ALL better off on the beach… sand in the toes, sunshine…. oh man…. I’m with you… it is our ‘primal’ yearning. 🙂
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Awesome quote, PP: “money can help you fund your purpose, but it can’t help you find your purpose.”
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I know, when I first saw this quote in a comment section, it really stuck with me! I can’t find the original author of the quote though.
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“And remember, money can help you fund your purpose, but it can’t help you find your purpose.”
Love this. Feels like a lot of people are trying to become rich because they want to be rich. Money doesn’t help if you don’t know what you want to do with your life.
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Exactly, money is just a means to an end. It won’t bring automatic fulfillment and happiness, but it will give you the freedom to then go experiment and find what does light you up!
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My soul balance sheet still needs a bit of work but I’ve made a ton of progress on it lately. The scales tip in the right direction anyway. Thanks this thought provoking post.
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“The scales tip in the right direction anyway.” – That’s the most important part! 🙂
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Always good to pay attention to your self worth! I have tried to subtlety tie this idea into many of my posts. I explicitly wrote a section on it in my Ode to the Elementary School Dropout, saying that self-reflection is a skill more important than most things we learn in school.
But, I STRONGLY disagree on one “soul-sucking” item that stuck out to me like a sore thumb! Selfishness could easily make it on to both lists – it depends on your use of selfish thought. Are you seeking your own selfish gain, as in saving for an early retirement? Great! You will take care of yourself better than anyone else will, and it’s a wonderful and special thing to be able to do so. But, are you seeking your own selfish gain at the expense of everyone else? As in, say, theft? That’s a soul-sucking selfishness and should be avoided at all costs.
Please note that I very selflessly took time out of my busy day to share this wisdom with the world. Mark one in the soul-saving column for The Vigilante.
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Thanks for the comment! I love hearing differing opinions. And, I pondered about using that word and decided that it was definitely what I wanted to communicate. If you look at the definition of selfish, it is about caring only for oneself. Or caring about your own interests despite the harm that it might do to others. Yes, our first ‘primal’ instincts are: 1. we want to stay alive and 2. we want to feel good. So, it is natural for us to seek solutions to these. However, as a species, we evolved as a cooperative society…. what is good for the group, is good for the individual. So, while we need to take care of ourselves first, it shouldn’t be our only priority if we want to thrive as a healthy society. I’m reading “Happy City” at the recommendation of MMM and the author points out that Rome was a thriving society when it was built on cooperation, but then when greed and hoarding started, it fell.
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I’m glad you appreciate differing opinions, because I could not disagree more! 🙂
But it’s a chicken and the egg thing – you say “what is good for the group, is good for the individual,” I say “what is good for the individual is good for the group.”
I am a lawyer, though, so I’m not looking at it from the perspective of “It’s nice if everyone works together,” but rather the perspective of trying to govern for “collective good.” That never turns out well. But if you govern to protect the rights of all individuals, regardless of what group they’re a part of, you’ll see good things happen. People like to do things with their freedom. It’s why we’re all here pursuing financial independence!
Side note: I’d be interested to see where that author came up with that. Seems backward – I recall a story about a Roman politician running on a platform of “free bread for everybody” and having overwhelming support, and that kind of thought was rampant at the fall of Rome. Prior to that, despite slavery, Rome had been one of the most free and most capitalistic western cultures since Athens. A man could buy his freedom, a woman could own property – its things like that which made Rome a great success, not everybody always agreeing on every single goal, working together, and holding hands!
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Love this. I wrote similarly recently about investing in yourself on top of the stock market or financial assets.
Money can protect you, but money is go away. Strong character and skills can’t be taken or lost.
Cubicles, balance sheets.. you weren’t an accountant in a previous life were you? 😛
Colby
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Yes, we have to invest in ourselves! No, I’m not an accountant. My husband is though. I am an engineer by degree. I was a design engineer one year out of college and went nuts sitting in an office. So, then I spent most of the remainder of my career was as a construction project manager, which kept me on the go. 🙂
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Love this. I recently wrote about investing in yourself on top of the market and financial assets. Money can protect you to an extent, but it can be lost. Character and skills can’t.
Cubicles, balance sheets.. you weren’t an accountant in a previous life were you? 😛
Colby
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