Forget the price tag

That man is the richest whose pleasure are the cheapest.

I glimpse twice at the quote and it cant just be more on point. For me. 

I take pleasure in discounted stuffs. I don't fancy luxury branded bags or first class travelling. But I take a big ass pride in buying cheap ticket and tolerating the space between seats. 

My mom says I have no ambition. 

My friends, who is on a MLM business but reject to be said so, say I'm complacent. 

They asked me if I want to have financial freedom, if I'd like to buy stuff or eat in the restaurant without sorting at the pricelist first. 

Do I want it?

Ridiculously, not so much. Pricing is a great filter of things I wanna buy. 

If there's something that I'm so good at is to adapt with what I have and be grateful at it. I have learned this the hard way, since 9 year old when its damn hard for me to find a shoe that fits my gigantic feet. Sometimes I do hope I had smaller feet then I could fit easily in any trendy shoes. 

But nah second thought, my shoe cabinet would be flooded just like my wardrobe with the items that I rarely wear but couldn't let go!

The MLM friend said that he understand my modesty lifestyle but would my child understand too? What if one day my child asked for iPhone #200 (say in year 2030) and I could only afford her an Indian phone (assuming by 2030 India is the new China). 

Well I know to never debate with 1) an Atheist 2) a MLM agent. So I just laughed it off and agreed on their judgment. Though in my heart I wonder why the heck I got to proivde my child with lux stuff if they just a kid, isn't that called pampering?

High paying job and sanity

Sometimes i can be so assured with who I am and not. Sometimes I also can blame myself for being lazy and not working harder, or having my own business instead of slaving for a corporate, and getting more money. 

I've been there before, the time when my bank account was well fed and chubby. Was I happy? Yeah, it feels undeniably good to be able to get a cup of exorbitant Starbucks anytime without the kaching sound when they swipe my card. But I also am happy to get Kopi Janji Jiwa with discounted promo code!

You can bring a girl to a city but you cant take out a villager out of her. Likewise being able to spend is actually not that fulfilling. As in first place, I don't fancy expensive stuffs. 

A big fat bank account felt like an obese unhealthy pig which stressed me out to manage it properly. 

Then come this work which is time consuming and crashes my laptop - a volunteer work. I even spend money to make the work better. I feel just fulfilled and content. 

So this is another make peace effort of me being different and out of social constructed standard, to feel contentment of being “complacent”. 

Forget the price tag

Money is mostly correlated with happiness. The more expensive the stuffs, the happier you will be. I read somewhere, that reality is constructed by the commercials. 

People need numerical standard to measure happiness, hence they find some numbers and amounts to put a judgment into the quality of your life. How much is somebody's net worth is definitely irrelevant with their satisfaction in life. Do they find meaning and joy in their luxury race car? 

If others find their happiness by taking a first class flight to Europe and paying somebody to take their photo just like a prewed in front of Eiffel, that's alright. 

I find my happiness in driving an old MVP to suburb and taking a mood picture in front of trendy big tree with the help of my friend. 

That is, I tell myself, is alright. Let's forget the price tag, be conscious and honest of what is truly meaningful and fill your value and soul. 

Written this piece while standing  in front of the bay for an hour. 

And yes this also as happy as writing on fancy rooftop somewhere with a glass of wine.