A Depressed Millionaire Taught Me A Harsh Lesson About Life
Imagine earning just under 10 million a year.
What would your life be like? How would you feel? Would you still have problems?
If you are like me, you imagine that your life would be perfect. You would have no stress, be able to buy anything you want, feel safe and be able to travel the world. But that is probably just an illusion.
A few days ago, I stumbled across a Youtube video of a young man who accomplished just that. He earns several million a year, his net worth is north of 20 million, and he is good-looking. From the outside, it seems like he’s won the game of life.
However, his mental health was messed up. He talked about waking up in the morning with crippling anxiety and having suicidal thoughts.
How is that possible with this level of success?
I think Mark Manson has brought it to the point with the following sentence.
Problems in life never end; they merely get exchanged and/or upgraded into better problems.
If you are rich, you might not have to worry about paying your rent for a while. But instead, you might have fear of loss, imposter syndrome, or other problems you can’t even think of right now.
One of the most successful musicians of recent years, Machine Gun Kelly describes the same thing in his hit “Die in California”.
If I ever look happy, then it’s an act Every day is an anxiety attack I wish I could take it back To when I was drinkin’ water out the tap With the Cleveland logo printed on my hat Tell me was it my fear of being complacent That ended up leavin’ me so jaded? (Ended up leavin’ me) I’m miserable even though I made it Got a house in the hills and I fuckin’ hate it (ayy)
The Life Lessons I Learned
When an incredibly successful young entrepreneur is depressed and one of the most successful singers sings ”I wish I could take it back to when I was drinkin’ water out the tap” a powerful lesson can be drawn from this. I would phrase it as follows.
Although we often think of it this way, material success rarely brings happiness.
Happiness is generally not found in external things, but within. This shows in the fact that even the lives of superstars are rarely as good as they seem.
Because problems never end. Even when you’re rich and famous.
Thanks for reading!
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