Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?

When people ask me "are you better off than you were four years ago?" I know they are thinking in monetary terms.  Is that the only component to life?

If you don't make more money, have more money, spend more money, you aren't doing better: is that the deal?

I imagine that if over the last four years, I had gotten 50% increases in pay every year, but hated every minute I was at work, I would not be better off.

I imagine that if over the last four years, I had obtained a job that paid $100,000 more, but my relationship with my family deteriorated, I would not be better off.

I image that if over the last four years, the government cut my taxes to 0%, gave me a free car and filled it up with gas every week and paid for my groceries, let me stay home and made all those losers on welfare scrub my bathtub every day, I would STILL not be better off if I essentially didn't like myself.

So when we ask the question: are you better off than you were four years ago--maybe we should start with ourselves?

What are you doing to make yourself a better person?

Me?  Not much.  I admit it.  It nettles me.  I know that I have prioritized superficial things over what really matters, and if I want to be "better off", I need to make some changes.

It has nothing to do with money.

It has nothing to do with the government.

It has everything to do with me.

Work toward being a better person, be better off four years from now.
No governmental assistance required.