BOLD: Money

One lesson that was taught on Thursday's first step to Bold was something I thought seemed a bit strange; why would the instructor even need to say such a thing?

The lesson was: "It's okay to have a lot of money."

This was brought up at both the beginning and at the end of the session. When he first mentioned it, I said to myself, "Well, of course it's okay!! Why would it not be okay? What a ridiculous thing to say! Is this some sort of sales pitch, because I'm already here." He then asked us, "how are rich people portrayed in the media? How do you view them?"

Answers included:

Self indulgent

Mean

Selfish

Rude

Uncaring

Stuck up

As I thought about it, I thought about the things said about people I've known who have found success, made money, and have enjoyed their hard earned income.

Things I've over-heard have included:

"Well, they're just showing off!

He's just blowing his money on stupid stuff!

I don't care if she's making money, but does she have to brag so much?!

They're not even the same people anymore...

They think they're better than everyone now.

How pretentious of him to post about his success!

What would THEY know about OUR struggle?!

These conversations were always followed up with, "Well, if I had that level of success and that much money I would ______."

That blank was always filled with some sort of uber responsible idea like saving money, fixing something up, or starting some sort of retirement plan. But really, is that the first thing you'd do? It's not the first thing I would do - our house needs a face lift, so that would come first. I would want to trade my car in too and maybe take a little vacation. Will people say negative things about me if I'm driving a newer car? Are they going to scoff if I'm able to take my family to Florida more often to see my in-laws? Should I REALLY have to worry about that? Why is success a bad thing?

Another reason that it's okay to have a lot of money is that you can give back. I think what people don't understand about my more recently successful friends is that they are coming from a situation where they have some catching up to do. Their money is well spent on paying off bills that we all have, while also doing some things that bring their family happiness and enjoyment. Eventually, I'm certain they'll give back to charity more often, but they have to assure their foundation is steady before giving back. You can't give back money that's already spent, and when paying off debt and securing yourself and your family in case of financial hardship - that money is definitely already out the door. Continued success allows charitable giving though, so their friends and family (and hopefully my own) should support that. Plus, who knows what's going on behind the scenes? They could be giving away half of their income for all you know. In saying that, I'm certain people would say negative things about them if they were to post things about their giving too like, "Why do they post that? Do they want a pat on the back or something?"

Bold really gets the wheels turning and makes you look within on how you approach life and how you think when it comes to certain situations. I never really noticed that I and others had such a big issue with the success of other people or their ability to make money. We're probably jealous, but I think too that we've been taught that rich people are bad when in reality that's not always true. Look at Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Michael Bloomberg, or Mark Zuckerberg - they're always involved in giving back in some capacity. Not everyone is a Scrooge McDuck.

Think about how you feel about rich people.

Is it mostly negative?