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I sometimes feel the same way until I look at it from the other side. If I had no dignity and was completely willing to sell out any self-respectability I had, I could accomplish the same end. I truly don’t envy the lives these people lead. They’re hollow on the inside and can only live a psychologically comfortable life, living in the most supreme level of ignorance one can possibly imagine. Never believe these people when they put so much energy and emotion into telling you how happy they are. They aren’t trying to convince you, they’re trying to convince themselves. True happiness isn’t performative, it’s quiet and content.
I’ve also had the same opportunity to make much more money than I currently do but one thing I always come back to is “what am I doing this for?” I don’t need that much money, and I don’t have a family of my own to support. I was never one of those guys who if I had a billion dollars I’d be living the high life, chartering private jets to Dubai and dropping hundreds of thousands on gold chains. Even at my greediest I’d just be doing more of the same. Ordinary people don’t really envy the rich, they envy the lives they ‘think’ rich people live.
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