You can't take it with you when you go.

Image via The Fresh Exchange Blog

I don't specifically remember dreaming about the future when I was a little girl and hoping for fancy cars, a big house, and lots of money when I grew up, but I suppose it was in the back of my mind as the definition of "success". Although I've only been in the working world for about four years now, there is nothing more evident to me at 26 years young than that "success" has so little to do with money.

I recently heard a song by Kristian Bush called "Trailer Hitch". Have you heard it? Country fan or not, his lyrics really struck a chord with me.

"I don't know why, know why. Everybody wanna die rich. Diamonds, champagne, work your way down that list. We try, everybody tries, tries to fit into that ditch. You can't take it with you when you go. Never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch. Never seen a hearse with a trailer hitch." - Kristian Bush, Trailer Hitch

I don't understand why we associate STUFF with success. Money. Cars. Clothes. Jewelry. Fancy vacations. The list goes on and on. We buy stuff to cheer ourselves up, to keep up with the Jones', to fulfill our childhood vision of what our adulthood would be like, to broadcast our status to the world, and for a lot of other psychological reasons.

Am I an expert? Heaven's no. Do I want to live comfortably and not have to worry about paying my bills each month? Of course. I'm a planner and a worrier, after all. I've simply decided to surround myself with the items and people that make me happy and to continually remind myself that there IS enough money to be had.

You can't take THINGS with you when you go, but you can go HAPPY knowing you have more to be thankful for than just the crap sitting in your garage.

In case you're interested, here's a YouTube link to "Trailer Hitch" by Kristian Bush.