Why Can't I Just Be Rich?!

Why Can't I Just Be Rich?

This question ruins more lives than you realize.

So many people, myself included, have asked this question of friends, family and most importantly, the steering wheel of their car. Many more people are still asking it. The question usually arises after an event or topic of conversation has reminded them of something they dislike about their current occupation.

The person who hears this question generally nods in agreement and mumbles something to the effect of “Yea, that’d be nice,” or worse yet, starts spewing negativity in regards to whatever prompted the question in the first place. This second possibility is so much worse because it usually leads both parties into a downward spiral of complaining that concludes with both parties feeling better for having had someone agree with their dissatisfaction, but ultimately like feeling like they’ve both been cheated somehow.

The reason they feel cheated that after all the energy they’ve expended and the time they have wasted hating their current situation – nothing has changed, and odds are this is just another repetition of a seemingly endless cycle. These two people have most likely had this exact conversation (or one very similar) at least once before.

The simple fact of the matter is that you cannot change something by hating it, no matter how hard you try. In fact, the way I see it, you can only make something stronger by constantly despising it.

In my experience, continuously subjecting yourself to something you can’t stand only makes that thing seem more are more daunting. The only reason to continue suffering, rather than “escaping” from whatever you feel trapped by is if you (for whatever reason) can't. Therefore, the longer you remain trapped, all the while telling yourself you want out, the stronger your particular prison must be. Ultimately, if you hate the same situation for an ever extending period of time hopelessness inevitably sets in. If you haven’t been able to get out from under (insert your personal source of angst here) after (insert the length of your suffering here), what hope could you possibly have of changing anything? The feeling only intensifies as time goes on.

I submit that this type of thinking is exactly why so many people who are still asking themselves that initial question will never succeed in attaining the riches they claim to seek. By constantly loathing their current circumstances, rather than accepting them as a temporary necessity they are trapping themselves in the situation they are so miserable with. They are giving up their power over the situation and allowing the situation to assume that power over them. The key to avoiding this trap is to remember that your situation is only as permanent as you let it be. Remember that you can change anything you choose to change, and while those changes are taking effect, don’t give in to misery. Accept your present circumstances as necessary and temporary, nothing more and nothing less. Some people ask themselves “Why can’t I just be rich?” when things get rough, while others simply say to themselves “Enough is enough,” and get to work on trying to answer the question. The answer, as many of the readers of this article have found, is that there isn’t one. There is no reason you can’t be rich, and once you realize that, it’s up to you to get to work on making it happen. People either move away from pain (asking the question) or toward pleasure (taking action).

The reason I initially decided to write this article is because someone actually asked me this question recently. It was actually the first time I’d heard those words since my wife and I found this industry and started our own business. The first time I’d heard that question since we were the ones asking it. I realized a shift had taken place for us. I realized that we no longer ask the universe why we don’t have something we want. Instead we go out and start working towards achieving our dreams.

In the old days my response to this question would always be either, “Seriously, then we wouldn’t have to…” or “Yea! Then we could…” but that would be it! Idle thought without any action. Now hearing that question makes me want to look at the person and say “I don’t know, why can’t you? Have you tried? What are you doing? What’s your plan?”

Had someone responded that way to me, I would have jokingly said I had a very precisely laid out plan of how I was going to win the lottery, and that is the answer that most people would give.

The beauty of a community like BetterNetworker is that everyone here has made the shift to answering the question, rather than just asking it. Together, we can find new answers to a vastly more important question: 

Who ever said you couldn't be?

Lynne And Chad

www.ChooseToBeIndependent.com