How To Waste Your Life & Never Be Happy (A Short Story)

this is Noah in 1976 Noah was born in the United States of America to a man named John and a woman named Sarah John and Sarah were married and had one other boy before Noah named Alex neither John nor Sarah was exceptionally intelligent or talented but they worked reasonably hard in their careers to make up for it and create a life for themselves at the time of Noah's birth they made enough money to provide a sense of security for themselves and for their two sons but not enough to feel any extra comfort they were not poor but pennies were often pinched and corners were often cut in order to sustain for all intents and purposes they were average dead center middle America as time would pass Noah and his brother would start to ingest and understand more of the world around them they began to grasp the conditions of their lives and form their personalities and perspectives Noah and Alex were quite different Alex was a very positive individual who always tried to see things through an optimistic lens he understood his parents situation and recognized that they were doing their best with what they could and he loved them for that he appreciated what he had and loved enjoying the simple things in life he liked camping drawing and playing the guitar Noah however it was far more pessimistic about his conditions and desirous of something bigger and better he saw the world as a game of numbers in levels one with winners and losers one where money and status determined the winners and one that he felt like he and his family were losing and this upset Noah Noah first made this determination for himself back when he was 10 years old and all of his friends got a new popular toy everyone had this toy and it seems so cool so Noah asked his parents for one when they told him they would not be able to get it for him Noah didn't understand why his parents told him that they didn't have the extra money to spend on an expensive new toy at the time and that he should just enjoy the toys he had but Noah's still didn't understand why he wondered what his parents didn't do right to be like his friend's parents he wanted to be like his friends and have his friends families and have that toy he wondered what it must be like to be that happy when Noah was 12 his father got a decent-sized promotion at the company he worked for going from a floor position to a managerial role Noah and his family's life would change significantly almost overnight Noah would now have access to some of the extra comfort and niceties that many of his friends had the family he wished for he now had most of the toys he wanted he could now get Noah continued to grow older into high school when he turned 16 he got his license no observed many of his friends get new cars from their parents as a gift when they got their licenses so Noah asked his parents if they would get him one his dad said that even though things were going pretty well it wasn't wise to purchase a new car at the time but that Noah could share one of the two family cars with his brother when no one else in the family was using it Noah accepted this and said thank you however inside he was mad he saw his friends new cars that they didn't have to do anything for or share with anyone he wanted to be like his friends and have his friends families to get that brand-new car and not have to worry about anything he wondered what it must be like to be that happy when Noah turned 18 his mom got a promotion at her company with their newfound extra income Noah's parents decided to get him a brand new car as a high school graduation gift Noah could now drive anywhere he wanted at anytime without having to worry about sharing it the life he wanted with his own car he now had several years later Noah would graduate from college with a degree in business he didn't really know what he wanted to do but he knew he wanted to make a lot of money and that it could lead to that after graduating he got a job as an intern for a big corporation throughout his internship Noah didn't really enjoy his role and felt unfulfilled and unhappy the work was boring and never felt like it had anything to do with him along the way he made friends with some co-workers though one of the employees that he became acquainted with was the VP of Sales and Marketing this individual had a huge responsibility and influence in the company he was clearly making a lot of money and he would often treat coworkers to nice dinners and events he had nice things a big house a cool car and beautiful women would gravitate to him Noah wanted to be this man and have that much authority money and all the beautiful women he wondered what it must be like to be that happy no I decided that he needed to work harder and dedicate himself to the company that he needed to find his way into an important role like that man he admired many more years would go by and Noah was still at the same company he worked hard throughout those years really hard he was hyper focused and stopped hanging out with a lot of friends didn't see his family as much and didn't really engage in anything outside of work at this point he had moved up numerous ranks in the company and was making a lot more money not far from the VP of Sales that he envied as an intern Noah had now bought himself his own home in a really nice new car he had a decent amount of disposable income and could buy most of the things he wanted to and could go out to nice restaurants and wear nice clothes but Noah was still not very happy or fulfilled by his work he was working hard but things were still boring and never felt like they had anything to do with him every day felt like the same and Noah found himself always wishing for the day to be over one day a friend from college that Noah would still sometimes go out with on the weekends told Noah how he recently started working at a new company his friend told him about how great this company was how much opportunity there was to grow to the top and do exciting and important things how much money was being invested into the company how much higher the starting salary was how much flexibility there was for employees how nice everyone was including the owners Noah wondered what it must be like to work for such a great company he wondered what it must be like to be that happy shortly after this conversation with his friend Noah quit his job and got his friend to refer him for a position at this new company Noah got the job a couple more years go by and Noah has climbed his way up through a few ranks at the company when all of a sudden it gets bought out and Noah is laid off Noah sees the company owners make millions and millions of dollars while he and most of the other employees lose everything they work for with nowhere to go and no remorse from anyone Noah wondered what it must be like to be an owner of a company like that to cash out on a multi-million dollar deal and never have to worry about working again he wondered what it must be like to be able to do whatever you want whenever you want he wondered what it must be like to be that happy Noah realized he had been going at everything all wrong he was tired of working for other people only to get screwed over at the end of the day he realized that if he wanted to be happy he needed to take control of his own fortune so Noah collected a few colleagues and friends who he had made over the years to start a company with he didn't know exactly what he wanted the company to be but he knew he wanted to make a lot of money and sell it at some point with his newly established business partners he brands industry and what product or service would be the most potentially lucrative to start a business around seven more years go by and Noah and his partners have built a successful business with promising growth throughout these years noah has had even less time to himself the demands of being a company owner and building a business from the ground up took everything noah had he had no time outside of work he would wake up early go to work get home late go to bed and do it all again the next day he lived and breathed the business he cut out everyone in his life that wouldn't be of use to his business he traveled all the time and rarely saw his family girlfriends would never last hobbies and activities were completely off the table but because of noah and his partners hard work and their willingness to do whatever it took to make their company successful a major corporation became interested in buying the business and its intellectual property for a large amount of money the deal was closed and noah cashed out at fifteen million dollars suddenly all of the things noah wanted when he was a child he can buy millions of any car he wanted when he was a teenager he can buy without feeling a dent any sense of status power or luxury he wanted when he was a young adult he has the big house the women the fancy parties the nice things the status he has it all a year goes by it is Christmas Noah's with his family this is one of the few times a year he sees his brother Alex Alex asks Noah how things are going Noah tells Alex about how bored he is not working anymore how he doesn't really know what to do at this time and feels kind of lost he tells Alex how his remaining friends only seem to care about business and money how they don't appear to care about him as a person rather just a networking or business focal point he shares how his last couple girlfriends were shallow and never really seemed to care about him or anything beyond money he says how hard it is for him to meet new good people and feel excited about life alex empathizes with noah and consoles him noah asks Alex how he has been and what he's been up to alex says things are pretty great and he's been painting and camping a lot and playing little guitar as well noah asks how he's doing for money and if he needs any help alex's thank you but that he's doing fine he says that he has enough money for him and his family to be comfortable he says that he's been selling a lot of his paintings photos and design and has been doing pretty well with that he says it's a constant grind but he loves making every piece and seeing the face of the people and clients that fall in love with them that if he had to do this for the rest of his life he would still be thrilled every day Alex's wife comes into the room holding the newborn baby following her as a five year old girl Alex's other daughter Alex goes on to share how great his wife is doing and how great his kids are doing he says they were planning a trip to Spain for an art exhibition Noah sees the life in his brothers eyes he sees the passion in the sense of self he wonders what it must be like to be that happy he wonders why he never slowed down why he never enjoyed himself and stopped comparing himself to everyone around him why he never appreciated what he had or what he liked to do why he gave half his life to becoming wealthy owning a bunch of stuff and impressing strangers only to end up alone unfulfilled and unhappy he asks Alex how did you do it how did you find so much happiness Alex responds Noah I just didn't look so hard [Music] thank you for watching if we found enjoyment and value in this video please give it a thumbs up share your thoughts in the comments below and if you are not already be sure to subscribe to our Channel we are constantly coming out with new videos to help you experience life with clarity and Wonder

Channel: Pursuit of Wonder

Views: 3,496,414

Rating: 4.7607269 out of 5

Keywords: happiness, how to be happy, how to be miserable, how not to be happy, how to waste your life, how to be sad, money, fame, or how to live and be happy, project better self, jay shetty, school of life, waste your time, before you waste time, school, job, work, career, improvement pill, short story, animated, about money, animation, life, about life, motivational story, inspirational, speach, freedom in thought, how to become more self disciplined, how to be succesful, discipline

Id: XBTOqyUtX-0

Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 09 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/emd9629]

No video necessary, I'm already an expert on this topic.

[u/DrexFactor]

As someone who followed the creative path I’d like to point out that results may vary. Some of us wind up in a happy, fulfilled place with enough money. Many of us wind up in poverty and just as crushed as folks who have no passions in their lives. Happiness takes a lot of paths and I’ve rarely seen it go the same way for two different people.

[u/gabriel3374]

It's a pretty shallow video for the complexity it wants to present to you. The moral seems to be that for the pursuit of happiness you shalt not be materialistic. While this is maybe one vague and oversimplified lesson in life, the pursuit of happiness is such a huge topic that this video doesn't do it justice at all...

[u/Viziers]

They didn't have to make a video about my life

[u/BASGTA]

Bad video.

[u/mayorjimmy]

"money doesn't buy happiness" is a bullshit lie people tell themselves. it's the equivalent of "she wasn't that hot anyway" after a hot chick shoots you down.

[u/brtt3000]

This assumes there is something to waste and also devalues a lot of peoples lives as wasted.

[u/RwordNword]

For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

[u/Apps4Life]

r/me_irl