Billionaires are the unhappiest people on Earth.
People get it twisted.
They think money brings happiness.
They think more options means more freedom.
They think if they can just hit “the number”…
Then everything will finally fall into place.
But you see beneath all that, right?
You don’t want money.
You want meaning.
You want peace.
You want to feel like you’re enough.
Money is just the easiest lie to chase.
It’s measurable, photogenic and instagram-able.
It gives you the illusion of progress while keeping you numb.
It will never fill the hole inside you.
Over the years, I’ve met a lot of “successful” people.
Six-figure earners.
Big house. Beautiful family. Flashy cars. Well-respected.
From the outside, it looked like they had everything.
One man in particular comes to mind.
Let’s call him Derek.
Tall. Handsome. Sharp.
He had money. Women. Status.
Everything the world says a man should want.
But when I looked at him, I mean really looked, I saw something else.
A hollow face.
A permanent stoicism that wasn’t power, it was numbness.
Cold as stone.
A man who hadn’t let himself feel anything in years.
At the time, I couldn’t understand it.
He had everything.
And I had barely anything.
Yet, I was more alive than him.
Now, I sit here. Unshackled from the chains of “success”, and I finally see it.
Derek wasn’t living.
He was surviving.
Trapped in the one-up cycle.
Haunted by the void within.
Too afraid to stop, because stopping - would mean facing himself.
Well, where’s the evidence? - you may ask.
It was all over his face.
And there is one place to look when discerning the fragility of a soul.
The eyes never lie.
So. What are you really chasing?
Calm?
Peace?
The illusion of security?
Or are you just feeding the ego…
Chasing the next holiday, the next dopamine hit, the next shiny win,
hoping it’ll finally shut the gnawing up?
You see it dangling in front of you - the golden carrot.
And you keep running after it, without ever asking:
Where the hell am I going?
If you don’t pause to ask, you will never stop.
The ego will always want more.
But ego only has as much power, as you are willing to give it.
The more you give your ego, the less you have for your self.
Yes, you need enough money.
Enough to eat. To breathe. To build something real.
My working-class background taught me to live humbly.
How to live well within my means.
And now I see it for the blessing it was.
Because when you’ve lived with little,
you don’t confuse wealth with wholeness.
I don’t chase noise and attention anymore.
Because I realised that path goes in circles, and keeps you stuck.
I took the carrot off the stick.
And I was able to do that with awareness.
The awareness to look up and realise,
I was holding the carrot up myself.
Once I put it down, I saw a whole new world emerge.
More incredible than I ever could have imagined.
Self-awareness brings a quiet power, a deep sense of alignment.
Without need of validation.
Without need for more stuff.
Without need of anything except what keeps you alive.
Just you, walking with conviction, living your truth.
And that, my friend, is real confidence.
Now I see luxury for what it really is, ego food.
Empty calories for the soul.
An endless buffet that never satisfies.
An aesthetically-pleasing well of despair.
The chase is just a cage.
And billionaires are the most imprisoned of us all.
Let’s be real - billionaires shouldn’t exist.
No one needs that kind of money.
Maybe Elon does, because rockets aren’t cheap…
But most of them are just hoarding jewels
like dragons in a cave, thinking it’ll make them feel whole.
When in fact, it only makes them more lonely.
We’ve all seen the Hobbit…
There is no difference between billionaires and Smaug.
Surrounded by gold.
Guarded by walls.
Terrified of letting anyone in, because everyone’s a threat.
That’s heartbreaking.
What’s the point of a huge mansion
if all it does, is give you more space to hide your skeletons?
Seriously. How many secrets can one house hold?
A lot.
It’s like walking into McDonald’s and ordering 100 Big Macs
because you are absolutely ravenous.
Then after your stomach bursts and leaks all over the floor,
you still don’t feel full.
Because it was never hunger for food.
It was hunger for wholeness.
And no one told you - that can’t be bought.
Listen, the void isn’t outside you.
Neither is the answer.
You can’t buy your way into peace.
You can’t status your way into wholeness.
You can only return to it.
Here’s the cold, hard truth.
You’re running the wrong way.
You think ‘more’ will fix it?
It won’t.
I suggest doing a 180.
The sooner, the better.
Stop looking outward.
Start looking inward.
What’s more painful…
Facing your demons now?
Or hitting 70 with an unbearable ache inside,
knowing you wasted decades trying to escape your shadow?
That kind of pain?
You don’t bounce back from it.
Because at that point, you can’t do sh*t about it.
Especially when you’ve got a replaced hip and a walking stick slowing you down.
You’re not climbing mountains at 70.
You’re not undoing decades of avoidance with self-help books.
All you’re doing is wishing you’d turned around when had the chance.
Regret is the heaviest demon of them all.
Because it steals what you can never reclaim: Time.
Hopefully big bad Regret hasn’t shown up yet.
But the lesser ones you’re carrying right now?
They can still be conquered.
They are waiting.
Daring you to turn and face them.
And in secret, while you aren’t watching…
They are praying that you do.
Because the truth is, they are you.
And they know what is at stake if you keep running.
It’s time to take your eyes off the carrot.
It’s time to look in the mirror…
Ok.
That’s all for now.
Make this week count.
I’ll see you next Tuesday.
At your side, always.
-Oliver
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