I got lots of nice comments when I posted yesterday about buying my new car. One person (hi, Katie!) commented on the fact that shes a big believer in second-hand. To which I replied that I used to be too, and I really miss those days in a way. Back when I was young and perpetually short of cash, I used to scour the second-hand shops for books, videos, tapes and CDs. Finding a bargain, or an out-of-print gem, used to psych me up. Id sometimes spend hours in a day trudging around from one store to the next. I loved it, and the search was almost as important to me as the finding and buying. Nowadays I have too much money to go on the prowl like that -- Id feel like a charlatan if I did, and how could I sleep easily, having robbed somebody more deserving of a bargain?!? Nope, Im at a point in my life where it behooves me to pay top-whack for most of the goods that I buy. The car was an exception, because I just wanted something cheap to learn in -- a new car would have been wasted on me, as Ill be creeping along the roads like a snail for the next year or two while I build up my confidence! I wouldnt swap where I am now for where I was twenty-plus years ago. Having had very little money and then a lot of money, I can attest to the fact that life is certainly a lot easier when youre not worrying about how youre going to pay the next bill when it comes in. But is it more fun? Well, yes, in most ways Id say it was. But you also lose things if you become successful. Life changes, and some of the pleasures of your youth have to be placed to one side. That happens even if you dont make lots of money, simply through the process of growing up -- a 42 year old man who behaves exactly the same as a 22 year old man is going to look a bit of a fool, isnt he?!? Im not saying life gets boring as you get older and more more financially secure, but it does change, and you wont necessarily be able to get the same buzz out of things that you enjoy as a young, penniless, carefree person. In short, dont complain TOO much about the things you lack if youre a hard-up youth like I once was -- believe it or not, one day you might be looking back fondly on these times, and remembering them as the good old days, when a dusty old book that you found at the back of a ramshackle old shop after a long and tiring search managed to make you smile in a way that ordering something new and shiny from the internet never can.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 07:19:01 +0000
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