David Stidston

In many of my blog entries, over these past couple of years, I have often stressed about how we should never become someone who chases after money. It's such a sad fact that so many people worldwide are possessed by money, to the point where they become so desperate, that they begin to base the majority of their decisions and actions around trying to acquire more and more cash. As a result, the more important aspects of life, such as our family, our relationships, our health, our happiness, and our goals, are often sacrificed in the process. Many of us are influenced to believe that money buys happiness, and whilst there's no denying that it does enhance our life in different ways, it's definitely not the key component to living a life blessed with happiness, satisfaction, success, and fulfillment. Such becomes the craving and desperation for money, that many of us reach the point we commit some foolish actions, we break the law, we cause harm to others, and we lose all sense of satisfaction and gratitude. Basically, that craving and desperation for money turns into an obsession, and it never ends. Even when we do acquire some cash, it's never enough, we still want lots more of it. Now there's nothing wrong with trying to create wealth, nor is it abnormal or foolish to want to build on that wealth, because it's important for our future, and our family's future, after all. The problem lies within our greed and selfishness. Most of us don't intend to use money for the greater good, in helping others, and investing in our future, but instead, we just want to splurge on luxuries for ourselves. You only need to look at the vast majority of lower to middle class income earners of the world, to see how each time they come across some extra money above their normal income, and how quickly they are off spending it in a heartbeat. On a low income wage, they try to live the lifestyle of a wealthy person, splurging any available funds in their bank account on new phones, new plasma televisions, and designer brand clothing. They are never satisfied with what they already have, and they completely lack self-control in spending.

Procrastination is undoubtedly one of the biggest success killers in life. You'd be in an extreme minority of people worldwide if you haven't delayed making an important decision, or put off certain tasks for the next day, or for a later time, at various times in your life. Whether it be a case of setting back a task, because it's mundane, boring, complicated, or energy sapping, or be it a decision that we are afraid to proceed with, because we fear the worst result and we want more convincing, the vast majority of us believe delaying such tasks and decisions is what's best for us. How wrong we are! So firstly, there are decisions. Now, for starters, we actually use procrastination as a form of tactic, when it comes to people's invitations or offers. Inside ourselves, we know full well that we aren't really interested in certain invitations and offers, or perhaps it's something that we couldn't be bothered engaging in, but rather than flat out saying no, we are guilty of leaving that invitee with an inconclusive response. It's the good old "I'll think about it", or "I'll let you know", or "Not now, but maybe in the future", sort of responses. We do it because we feel rude in saying no, when the reality is, we are actually being rude by not being truthful in the first place. It's disrespectful to the other party, and not a response we should be proud of. There's nothing wrong with being honest and forthright.

We know that toxicity is poison, however toxicity isn't just limited to some form of dangerous chemical, or the like. Many humans themselves are actually toxic, as they can be very unpleasant in a pervasive or insidious way, causing destruction and harm to the lives of others, including you and I. Now let's not be led to believe that we are talking about the murderers, rapists, pedophiles, thieves, and other criminals, here. We are actually talking about our workmates, our friends, our partner, our parents, and other loved ones. In fact, everywhere we go, we are constantly surrounded by these toxic people, and for most of us, we are either simply unaware of the harm these people are causing us, or we are aware of this harm, but are just too afraid to do anything about it. Even worse, we may actually be one of these toxic individuals ourselves. So what exactly constitutes someone to be toxic? Well, the greatest, although technically speaking, the worst, quality of a toxic person, is they breed negativity. These are the type of people whom rarely hold a conversation that doesn't include some form of whinging or complaining. They love to play the victim in life, constantly talking about how they believe nothing ever goes their way in life, how they are far from privileged, and how things always go wrong for them. They complain about everything from their job, to their partner. Nothing in life is ever satisfying enough for them, and they love to prey on others who can either relate, or show compassion, to share their tale of woe with. Most conversations with them are basically of this negative nature, and they very rarely have anything productive, inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging to share. So, what happens? The more we listen to these negative individuals, the more we are exposed to this negativity, and it's only natural that our mindset will follow suit to whichever environment it is exposed to. We too begin to feel negative about life, we begin to feel victimized, and we begin to heap our negativity upon others also.

One of the most exciting times throughout parenthood would have to be when your child first learns to both walk and talk. The walking part is especially rewarding, after having to witness all the times your child would get up and make an attempt to walk, only to fall flat on their face. To see them succeed, after all their effort, all their tears, all the pain, and all their failures, sure brings a smile to your face, and even a little proud smirk of accomplishment on the child's face also. We were once in the same boat as our children, stumbling, tumbling, falling over and hurting ourselves, whilst our own parents watched on. We wouldn't exactly remember those days, nor all the times we tried and failed over again, attempting to walk, ride our bike, climb, or maybe skate, nor would we remember all the times we hurt ourselves, and ended up in tears. Yet here we stand today, showcasing the skills and abilities we learned for ourselves as a child, walking, talking, climbing, riding, jumping, skating, and other such accomplishments. Most of us never even take a moment to reflect on exactly what we did accomplish as a child, but instead, we take for granted what a blessing it actually is to be able to walk, talk, run, ride, swim, cycle, and the like, because sadly, there are many individuals around the world who don't have such privileges. It's interesting that some of the most motivated, inspirational, and talented individuals, are those who are actually physically impaired. Despite their restrictions and impairments, their resolve, determination, and attitude, is extremely admirable.

Is it true that money really is the root of all evil? The answer to that question is "no", it certainly isn't the root of all evil, because money can actually provide the most wonderful of blessings, rewards, and help, to all of us, in life. It's interesting to hear that statement thrown around though, because funnily enough, it doesn't truly capture the complete message of what was written in the Bible, as people seem to believe, not entirely anyway. There's no denying these words are indeed written for everyone to see, however if we actually refer to 1 Timothy 6:10, in which we find this phrase, we will quickly see a whole different meaning to this message. The actual phrase reads "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." It completely changes the complexion about the phrase, just with those four words added to the beginning; "for the love of". You see, it's not money that is the root of all evil, it's humankind's love, desire, and desperation for it. As I mentioned, money can be used for a plethora of options to better our lives, and the lives of others, however the problem is that too many of us are possessed by it, and we fail to use it for the greater good, but instead to satisfy our own greed and selfishness. Whether physically possessing it, or just hungering for it, what a great majority of people would either do, or currently do, is either keep it entirely for themselves, spend it on luxury items, or spend it on material things. Meanwhile, across the globe, we continue seeing an ever increasing trend of poverty and homelessness.

In a world that is so fast paced, and one in which time is so precious and valuable, it can be extremely hard to exercise patience. These days, many of us can't even go to a grocery store, and not get agitated and frustrated when we see a line up at the checkouts. It's because we know we have far more important things to be doing than wasting time lining up at a supermarket checkout. Having previously worked behind the telling counter at a bank, plus as a checkout manager at a grocery store, there would barely be one day that went by in which there wasn't at least one customer who would complain about having to wait in line. Whilst many companies tend to shortchange the frontline of their business on staff numbers, just to save on costs, much of the time, queues form off the back of an influx of customer numbers, who all seem to have a habit of flocking in at the same time. Not that it's prearranged or anything, it's just that people have the same idea at the same time. Even in the business I run nowadays, many customers basically want their product delivered yesterday, such is the impatience of humankind. When it comes to achieving our goals, success, and wealth, our impatience tends to be at its worst, and most destructive. Most of us know exactly what goals we want to achieve, what we desire, and what will provide us happiness and satisfaction, the problem is, the majority of us don't want to have to work for it. We want it now! Sadly for us though, life doesn't work that way. To achieve our goals, not only is there a lot of hard work involved, but a lot of effort, a lot of energy, a lot of commitment, a lot of dedication, a lot of perseverance, a lot of resilience, and above all, a lot of patience.