People around the world have theories and opinions that vary. Naturally the differences in opinions result in different priorities. Some people believe in enjoying life to the fullest while some believe that working hard is the only way to get through in life. Similarly there are people for whom complete satisfaction is love and admiration from their close ones; whereas another group of people consider success and money to be the only sources of happiness. Our aim is to determine which of these play a more vital role in making people feel satisfied and achieved and for that their opinions simply is not sufficient. Several researches have therefore been conducted in which peoples’ reaction towards both success and love is compared.
Although there are arguments on both sides of this topic, more evidence are in favor of the fact that love from friends and family make people happier,thus are greater achievements. Success and money reduce the hardships of life as well as improve the living standard. Therefore it will not be illogical to state that money makes us happy momentarily. However the long term joy and sense of achievement is only acquired when one is loved by friends and family. In a survey published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a poll of 136000 people in 132 countries revealed that healthy relationships were much more important to people than lots of money(Derbyshire, 2010). It was also found that happier people were the ones who had the love and support of family rather than those who were financially well off. Dr Ed Diener, the lead researcher pointed out that happiness and money are only weakly interrelated and it is mainly the people we love and receive love from who truly makes us feel achieved.
Although, for the majority of people the greatest achievement is to be loved by family and friends, a lot of people have priorities that vary. Materialism is what they prefer to the comfort of love and adulation. In a debate survey 56% people voted against being poor than rich(Is it better to be poor than rich?, 2014). People from low-income family background often have to undergo poverty since their birth and it is that poverty along with the feeling of deprivation from opulence that makes them ambitious to be successful. Every time a poor child sees a rich one enjoying a comfortable car ride, his heart sinks knowing that his parents cannot afford such luxury; at a certain stage of life, he becomes highly determined to be able to own a car, to own a luxurious bungalow and to enjoy all the comforts that only the rich enjoy. The sole purpose of his life becomes to be rich and successful and the importance of love from family and friends fades into oblivion.
Professors Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers from university of Michigan conducted a new study that provides contrary evidence to the fact that money cannot buy happiness. The study shows that wealthy people of a country are happier and more satisfied than people with low income(Adams, 2013). From this it can be assumed that it is not relationship that always brings happiness. Not all the poor were deprived of love from dear ones nor all the rich enjoyed healthy relationship. Therefore the dependent factor of happiness was solely based on money and success. Furthermore, the study showed that there is no limit to which people feel completely satisfied with money. Love satiates the minds of people. However, the greater the money earned the more the happiness felt by a person.
Everything in life requires a balance. Following this mantra, we know that both success and love hold their own significance in a person’s life. No one can be truly happy with the absence of either of these two. One may have a greater constitution than the other, but success without love or vice versa will leave a person feeling underachieved and despondent.
As true as the fact is that relationships are a greater achievement, it cannot be denied that success and money ensures us a healthy and secured life;focusing only on relationships thus lead us to failure and thus depression in future. The importance of money is feeble to a child whose parents take care of his every day needs. When he grows up and responsibilities pile up to finance the expenses of his own child in turn, it is only then that the concept of earning is truly understood. Mary Jo Rapini, a counselor and therapist, mentioned in her article that people who fail to meet the day-to-day expenses or save money or the future suffer from stress, anxiety and depression. She further states that couples undergoing financial crisis are more prone to disputations and end in breaking up(Thompson, 2014).
A highly successful CEO, if deprived of the love of a happy family and the companionship of true friends, can never enjoy peace and satisfaction of such a dignified rank. There are innumerous such people who often sacrifice their fundamental comforts, such as living apart from parents, making less friends and cutting social life in order to work hard and soul for their success only, the success that at the beginning seems like a dazzling star, but which when earned, leaves them all lone and depressed. Providing evidence of the theory, in a research carried out at Brigham University by Dr. Jason Carroll, it was suggested that people who were overly focused on money were more depressed than those who were not. These people were also found to be more prodigal(Thompson, 2014).
In my view, both success and love of dear ones are achievements in our lives. However my answer to the question “Which is more responsible for our happiness?” would be “family and friends” .Money undoubtedly makes our life easier and comfortable, but it doesn’t come with the tagged warranty of staying in our lives permanently. When our life is void of success and money, we have our family and friends to support and motivate us to achieve it all over again. But once we lose our relationships while diligently struggling for success, we lose them forever. Even though success is achieved, the ignored friends and family will never be there to help us overcome the hardships of life. It is this ritual that makes me believe that a successful person may be happy but he only feels complete when his relationships are intact.
Contrasting views have been found on this subject supporting the point that materialism and success hold the greatest significance for some people.But generalizing the researches makes it quite clear that most people are happiest due to healthy relationships. It has also been proven that focusing on either only money or relationship brings deleterious effects in people’s futures. Success without people to appreciate it is no success. While a purposeless life only dedicated to relationships are the main causes of regret in future. After all the arguments discussed above, it can be concluded that success and lots of money without a question make people happy, but only to an extent far below the sense of satisfaction earned by healthy relationships.
