Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The High Cost of Living Well
I am uniquely privileged to be one of the few people in this world who can put a finger on exactly how much their happiness (defined as "a contented existence"; some would argue true happiness requires more than this, but for me it sounds good enough) would cost to achieve. I have discovered the one thing in life which I want more than any other single thing, an experience so pleasing to me that a day when I have had it is all but guaranteed to be a good day by my definition, and have calculated how much it would cost me to do it every single day. Adding that result to a modest cost-of-living estimate, I have come up with a dollar figure about twice what I'm earning now, at the job I wish I worked half as many hours and days a week at as I actually do. Ergo, I can construe that my ideal existence will be possible as soon as I can arrange to quadruple my income; this is a more or less achievable goal over the long term, and thus I have hope that I may one day be able to fulfill my minimal requirement for peace of mind.
Fasc...inating. You have peaked my curiosity.
ReplyDeleteBut don't you mean you'd have to octuple your income? If you're working four ten-hour days now and you'd rather be working two five-hour shifts per week, but you need twice as much money, then you'd have to octuple your hourly income.
Hm, is that what it says above? I don't need my day to go down to 5 hours; heck, it takes me most of 5 hours in a day to start feeling up to the effort of working. My ten-hour days are definitely cracking my sanity, but eight or nine isn't difficult, and I could probably even handle tens if I didn't have such an issue with transporation and if my breaks were longer and/or more frequent. Quadruple income and half as many work days would probably be sufficient.
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