Daydreaming is normal. We all do it, regardless of our lot in life. Whether you’ve fallen on hard times or you’re flying around in your private jet, our perspectives are relative. So, realistic or not, we dream about how our lives might be better. Maybe you’d drive a nicer car or live in a fancier part of town. Or maybe you might stop recoiling in horror every time you receive a bill in the mail. That’s normal.
To absolutely no one’s surprise whatsoever, I caught myself daydreaming again the other day. I started to wonder what my life would look like if I suddenly came into a large sum of money. Then, I started to wonder how large would this sum of money need to be… not that it would be reasonable for me to expect someone to just drop a million dollars in cash on my doorstep any time soon.
A Life-Changing Amount of Money
With that — and a grain of salt — in mind, I turned to the “wisdom” of Twitter to see what other people thought about the matter. How much money would it take before you would notice a significant change in your day-to-day life?
What is the minimum amount of money you would consider life-changing?
— Michael Kwan (Beyond the Rhetoric) (@michaelkwan) January 16, 2022
You see, it would certainly be nice if I suddenly has an extra $100 in my pocket. But, in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn’t make any sort of real difference in my life. The same was true with the $1,000 BC Recovery Benefit. We are incredibly fortunate in that we didn’t really need that extra money. It was nice, but not necessary.
This is hardly the first time I’ve thought about some version of this topic. I’ve written at least two blog posts about winning the lottery over the years. While it’s obvious enough that a couple million dollars would certainly qualify as “life-changing,” a survey conducted by OnePoll and Self Lender indicated that the average American said they’d only need $19,800 to “turn their life around.”
I don’t know about you, but that figure seems… low to me. Of course, everything is relative and that’s just one survey.
Between Daydreaming and Current Reality
I don’t remember exactly when I had this conversation, but I do remember I was chatting with SocialDad James Smith about it. Maybe it was at our most recent 5 Dads Go Wild camping trip. Anyway, he asked what I would do if I no longer had to worry about money. What would I do for fun to occupy my time? The idea is that your answer should help guide your career decisions. Some people like painting or fishing or making videos.
After giving it some thought, I told him that I spend more time actively engaging with my kids. We’d do more family things, go on more adventures, and that sort of thing. And I’d still enjoy the reprieve from when they’re in school, so I could read books, watch Netflix, and lose myself in nature during the day. To this, James replied, “So, you want to be a stay-at-home mum.”
We laughed at first. Of course we know that the life of a stay-at-home parent is not that easy or carefree. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how he was actually right, albeit in a snarky kind of way. The reality is that for all the daydreaming that I do, if I were to win the lottery, my life would just be an amplified version of the life I already have.
I’d work less (or not at all), but many of the same components would still be there. They’d just be “leveled up,” so to speak. Since I’d be working less, I’d be more of a stay-at-home dad. Even if I no longer had to worry about money, I’d continue writing and creating online content, but without the added stress of likes, follows, dollars and cents. When it’s safe to do so, I’d travel more. And I’d indulge in more of my food blogger ways.
In all the daydreaming that I do, there are very few (if any) dramatic changes involved. A nicer house and car, maybe, but no yacht or glamorous parties, no super high-end fashion or unnecessary extravagance.
It Comes Back to Gratitude Again
Now, I certainly recognize that we come from a certain place of privilege. While we are definitely not part of the one-percent, so to speak, we’re reasonably comfortable in our finances and life circumstances. So, at least for my part, this whole daydreaming exercise serves as a reminder to be grateful every day. You might even choose to formalize the practice for a while, because gratitude is something we need to practice. It’s far too easy to take things for granted.
So, I’ll keep doing the dad thing, the foodie thing, the read books and go on evening walks thing. Because reality can be pretty sweet too.
I would consider 200k to pay off my house lifechanging. The difference it would make month to month would be significant.
I think you’re absolutely spot-on when you said, “I’d work less (or not at all), but many of the same components would still be there. They’d just be ‘leveled up,’ so to speak.” Who we are, at the core, isn’t really going to change all that much. I’ve actually been trying to stop daydreaming these past few weeks. To borrow from Yoda, I’m learning to focus on the present – the things we can control and do. I “dream” too much. I think I could be spending a lot of that energy on other things. Might be a futile attempt to stop “dreaming,” but I’ll try it and see how it goes. I’ll probably learn something from the experience.