The phenomenon of over-earning

We are taught at a very young age the importance of money to live a decent life, we are also told that it is important to earn a decent wage to earn that money to support ourselves and our families. However, we are not taught how much money is enough for a person or a family to live a decent life. The result is we all learn from various sources what is a decent life, we are coached about how to be happy, and we are continuously bombarded with advertisements and messages that claim to inform us about what we need. I wish this all could help us at least to draw a baseline for what we really need to fulfill our needs and be content. These advertisements, movies, and now social media confuse us so much that we don't even know the difference between our needs and desires. We routinely mistake our desires for our needs and run after them as if we can't survive without them.

There is no denial of the importance of money in our society. We need money (or something that society values) for almost everything, food, clothes, shelter, and any other services we need. It is also true that this pressure to earn money motivates many of us to take many challenging jobs in our lives and many of us achieve great things and help society while trying to fulfill our needs and desires. So, if the pressure to be self-sufficient motivates us to earn what's the problem? 

The problem is we are not told where to stop, and most of us have no idea how much we need to earn to feel safe and comfortable, this is what results in a phenomenon of over-earning. We are filled with so much uncertainty and insecurity that we can't stop thinking about making more money. The desire to make more money is not a problem in itself, but to get trapped in the phenomenon of over-earning and stop enjoying life is the problem. Initially, we need a decent job and residence, then, want to own a house and a car, then, even a bigger house and a more fancy car, and we keep on shifting the goalpost throughout our lives without celebrating the goals that we achieve. We try to make sure we have enough for the uncertain things that may or may never happen in our lives, for example, unemployment, our kids going to expensive schools, and fancy holidays that we are told are necessary to live a happy life. We are sold countless dreams every day, and what we do, we chase them all. We earn and save for that one vacation that we dream about every year and don't manage to take because the very job we do to earn money for that vacation does not allow us to take any time off. We save money and then pressure our kids to get into that prestigious college or university where our kids may not want to go. Everyone's list can be unique, but the problem is the same, we are trapped in over-earning, forever, and our insecurities and fears grow so much on us that we can't come out of them. We keep on fearing for things that may never happen and save money for things that we may never do. It's like running on a treadmill from which we don't know how to get off or slow down.

So, is there any solution? It depends. I know this is not a desirable answer, but that's what it is, it really depends on how badly you are trapped in over-earning. The first step is to acknowledge that we have enough of what we need and we are over-earning. Then, try to differentiate between our needs and desires, keep a check on our insecurities, stop worrying, make sure to take those vacations for which we save, and be aware of all the brainwashing and conditioning we are subjected to by countless advertisements and social media posts. It's not easy, as having more money than we need is comforting, no one likes to live on the edge, but the reality is that most of us live like we are living on the edge even after having more money than what we need and we should work towards changing this. Over-earning is a thing, it's not some hypothetical problem, it adds stress to our lives and forces us to live in the perpetual feeling of insecurity. It seems that during the last couple of years, many people have realized the problem of over-earning due to losses they suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. It took a pandemic for us to realize that our priorities were messed up. But now as we realize the problem, let's fix it.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic.