It’s Not The What, It’s The Who.

It is not a secret that many of us try to compete at work and on our blocks with somebody else who appears to be doing better than we are at the moment. Why do we try to keep up with these people? Who are they anyway?

Various studies continue to show that Americans are stressed by money. We often overspend and then get buyers remorse, almost ‘tis the season. A study by financial planning firm Edward Jones shows more than half of us peek at our friends and question how they can afford their lifestyles. These may be people with expensive cars in the driveway. We may further assume they are the ones with a new, big house and no real furniture inside. How do we really know? We have never been invited into their home, don’t know their life story and yet we allow pressures to influence what we think of them how we try to keep up. And the pressures aren’t limited to our money. Many of us compare ourselves to other parents, spouses and co-workers. At the end of the day, I believe these are all heart issues.

A life coach who has become a friend, Bob Karcher wrote a book with his wife Susan, Who Are The Joneses Anyway? Their book encourages me. Bob And Susan start off by using their own life story to relate to people whom often feel they are on a hamster wheel in life. These people run in place to make money, buy stuff, get bad spending habits and eventually come to question why they aren’t happy. Do you relate at all? Is your yardstick for measuring “success in life” based on how much expensive stuff you have, how many accomplishments you have made or how many people like you? This will all be fleeting. Time for a heart check.

On this rainy Monday morning in Detroit, I’m not wondering so much about what I own or what the world thinks of me, I am wondering more about who I am. Today, when catching your breath between meetings at work or dodging raindrops outside wonder about the “who”.
Who are you? Who do you belong to? Who or what do you care for daily? Focusing life on the treasures that matter will lead to a true centering of your heart.
Welcome the Whoville.

#ChuckGaidicaJourneyStrong