Wealth
I am taking my blog this morning from two sources, today’s inspirational quote and an article I read on the Herald website.
The quote …fame and fortune only have true worth when mixed with other ingredients – like happiness, harmony and balance in your life. Rachel Elnaugh.
A quick Google search shows Elnaugh is a 58-year-old British entrepreneur who founded the UK gift company, Red Letter Days.
The article in the Herald went under the headline The luxury trap: Millionaire’s wife reveals why ‘life is really hard’. The woman in question had recently married a millionaire and moved from Britain to Dubai. The article claims she eats at exclusive restaurants most days, regularly gets her nails done, has luxurious massages and shops at high-end malls.
Two of her first difficulties she encountered included the cultural differences, which one could understand and the fact that her husband is always busy and frequently away, thus she needs to keep busy to counteract this absence. She has pressure to always look good as she meets many high-profile and powerful people and keeping personal standards high is important for her prestige. This entails having her hair and makeup done properly, with her stylist often accompanying her to various functions. Another pressure is keeping up with the latest fashion, which, if not up to scratch, means becoming a social outcast. Without the newest bag, one is a nobody. To ensure this doesn’t happen she hires the best sales associates and personal shoppers.
The article goes on to disclose the amount her husband can spend on her in a day – in this case $3500 on face injectables, $1.1 million on a new yacht, $2000 on dinner, $1500 on perfume and $10,000 on shopping. No wonder the husband is away working all the time, having to fund that kind of lifestyle.
Now I go back to the quote. Does this lifestyle sound like it includes happiness, harmony and balance? I don’t think so. It sounds like a living nightmare. The pressure to be on top would be so stressful. To me, the whole lifestyle reeks of shallowness. So what if one doesn’t have the latest handbag. Are people really that one-dimensional? Having watched a few episodes of some of those Real Housewives tv shows, I actually think they are. There, bitchiness, snobbery and shallowness reign, all the while with many of these women thinking they are so wonderful.
Some could view these comments of mine as sour grapes, but believe me, nothing in the lifestyle mentioned above appeals, not one thing, not even that amount of money. I am happy, and my life is in harmony and balance, and I have no wish for either fame or fortune… though a little extra money could come in handy now and again!