I wonder sometimes about how my relationship to money or attitude towards it has changed over the years. I guess growing up with a lack of it sort of made me want to accumulate which is perhaps natural. It’s one of those things that if you have enough of, you probably don’t notice it much, but if you don’t have enough of it, it dominates your consciousness so to speak. And it dominated mine for a very long time. And then when came a phase where I had enough—not too much, but enough to be comfortable—its hold over my consciousness loosened. I was able to see it in perspective. Maybe not see it in perspective so much as my own position had changed and from this new vantage point, I could see it differently. The idea of pursuing money, more and more of it, seemed meaningless. A bit like drinking air to feel satiated. But on the other hand, because I have known what it means to not have it, I realise that a total indifference to money that people who are born in a comfortable position have is also a type of luxury. Earned only by possession ironically.

My attitude now I guess is of someone who realises that money is but a means to many ends or a sustenance while one pursues more worthy ends. However, I am sensitive to the fact that it could justifiably be the end for those without the means. This attitude change has made me far more generous in recent times and also made me far less interested in potential monetary conflicts. Why would I spend time focused on drinking air when I could be watching the ocean…? We are not getting out of this alive anyway!