Consuming will not make you happy. No matter what way you slice it.
Thats the point of the article. You need to draw happiness from within. Thinking the grass is greener on the other side is much easier then dealing with that reality.
Yes, the people who go from "rags" to "riches" have the opportunity to relfect on this without the baggage that comes with being fiscally poor. I live that everyday. My parents migrated to Australia to look for wealth. Their generation worked every second of every day to provide that wealth to their children. Now they all have large bank accounts, but are much worse off health wise, both physically and mentally - diabetes, heart disease, stress - and its is killing them. Killing them before they have realised that working every second of every day, hoarding money, buying large properties, buying fancy cars, is not creating the happiness they yearned for.
My auntie made a million, took a year off, then went back to work. Because thats all she knew. Her husband, who ran the buisness, died a few years later. Both would be looked up to, and other parents would point to them as role models "look, you can do it it, all it takes is hard work".
So yes, in Greece, they struggled with food, but they had community and ultimately, the ones who stayed, adapted, maintained their health and their culture. They are still generally fiscally poor, and they still yearn to be a Greek Australian. But their family unit, culture and way of life is much, much richer. They just cant see it.
Thats the point of the article. You need to draw happiness from within. Thinking the grass is greener on the other side is much easier then dealing with that reality.
Yes, the people who go from "rags" to "riches" have the opportunity to relfect on this without the baggage that comes with being fiscally poor. I live that everyday. My parents migrated to Australia to look for wealth. Their generation worked every second of every day to provide that wealth to their children. Now they all have large bank accounts, but are much worse off health wise, both physically and mentally - diabetes, heart disease, stress - and its is killing them. Killing them before they have realised that working every second of every day, hoarding money, buying large properties, buying fancy cars, is not creating the happiness they yearned for.
My auntie made a million, took a year off, then went back to work. Because thats all she knew. Her husband, who ran the buisness, died a few years later. Both would be looked up to, and other parents would point to them as role models "look, you can do it it, all it takes is hard work".
So yes, in Greece, they struggled with food, but they had community and ultimately, the ones who stayed, adapted, maintained their health and their culture. They are still generally fiscally poor, and they still yearn to be a Greek Australian. But their family unit, culture and way of life is much, much richer. They just cant see it.