The Breathing Prosperity blog

As I was driving to the gym this morning and during my swimming I kept thinking about an article I wrote a few months ago. LaKeitha had written an article called Defining Prosperity for Myself and I had written a counter-article called Defining Prosperity: Is that Really Prosperity or Just Plain Lazy?! I remember as I wrote the article how truly upset I felt at LaKeitha – at the mentality I thought at the time – the wanting just enough to be okay attitude. My grandmother used to say ‘If you aim for the sky, you may fall on a tree. You aim for the tree you may fall on the hedge;but if you aim for the ground you don’t have anywhere to fall.’ But as I read the article it hit me again that I tell people I want to be on the Forbes 400 list – the 400 richest Americans list – and I have yet to hear one person say REALLY ME TOO!!  (Shauna excluded – she’s Canadian.)

So I’m curious why a lot of people never strive for more money than enough to be okay?…Why do more people not want to be the richest person in the world? So many just living till the next paycheck in quiet desperation, just fitting in, not making too much so people think they are snobs and not too little so they think they are trash.

I have been rich and been poor, and at the end of the day I will always choose rich. I have to admit there was a point when I didn’t want 1 billion dollars – there was a point when I just wanted to be okay – when I wanted to fit in and blend in with the crowd, when everyone’s approval mattered, when I thought of myself as so small that I only deserved enough money to be OKAY. When I didn’t believe it was possible for me to have more, or be more, or do more. No, the shift didn’t happen overnight and for a long while I would be afraid to say I want to be on the Forbes 400 list or people would look at me funny thinking who the hell is she to want more than we do?…who the hell is she to have more than we do?…

Till one day I felt the fact that I wanted this so deep inside me – that I deserved this – that I was good enough to have it. My uncle for as long as I’ve known him always will talk about his jet that he’s going to own. Internally I’d laugh at him and go YEAH RIGHT!!  But he never cared he just kept on saying I’m going to own my jet. For a long time I didn’t believe it was possible for him either till one day I said wow – you know my uncle is going to own a jet. Nothing is impossible!

I’ve even broken up with a guy because he thought it was okay to be poor – after all his parents were poor and they were happy and rich people have kids who don’t even like them he said. When I told him about my Bentley dreams he said ‘Can’t you have a better dream than that? So many things you could want in the world – peace, happiness, love, but you talk about money and your Bentley.’ He would tell me that he was my biggest supporter, yet he could not support me in my goal to make it to the Forbes 400 list. At that point I knew we were over. If he wanted to stay poor he would be doing it without ME!

So what is keeping you only wanting and asking the Universe for ‘okay’ money? What are you afraid of? Are you afraid you will fail? Are you afraid you might have to give up friendships or relationships? Are you afraid people will think you don’t deserve it? Are you afraid you might have to stand out? Do you believe it’s not possible for YOU? What is holding you back from reaching for the sky?

Tags: breathing prosperity, defining prosperity, personal growth