Money Changes People — But Not How You Think

I grew up watching my mother count money on the kitchen table every friday night. Not counting it because there was plenty. Counting it because she had to know exactly what was there before she could figure out what we were going to eat that week. I used to sit and watch her face when the numbers did not add up. That face said everything.

Source

So i grew up believing money was the problem. That if we just had enough of it everything would be fine. People would be happier. Relationships would be easier. Life would finally make sense.

Then i got older and realised something nobody really talks about.

Money does not change people. It just shows you who they already were.

I have watched people come into a little bit of money and become completely unrecognisable. Suddenly too busy. Suddenly too important. Treating the same people who stood by them like they were invisible. And i used to think wow money really changed that person. But looking back i think that person was always like that. The money just gave them the freedom to finally act like it.

Same thing works the other way. Some people come into money and become more generous, more grounded, more themselves. Because that was always in them too. They just needed the pressure off to show it.

The real thing money changes is your options. And options reveal character faster than anything else in this world. When you have no choice you behave a certain way. When choices open up, the real you walks out.

I think the reason people say money changes people is because it is easier than admitting they never really knew that person in the first place. Or maybe they knew but hoped things would be different.

What money actually does is remove the mask. The kindness that was forced by circumstance disappears. The humility that came from having nothing fades. But also, the fear that was hiding the generosity goes away too. It cuts both ways.

So before you chase money thinking it will fix things, fix yourself first. Know who you are when you have nothing because that person does not go anywhere.

Money just turns up the volume on whoever was already you are.

https://vote.hive.uno/@thebbhproject

https://vote.hive.uno/@hivecuba

Support the witness and vote for TheBbhProject carried out by @bradleyarrow