If you spend your time trying to keep up with the Jones’s then you’re probably living life too fast and missing out on what’s really important.
You see the concept of the Jones’s is misleading. Oftentimes this is portrayed as a next door neighbor family that’s doing well financially. It seems every other week they have some new toy, are going on some new vacation, and just have everything you think you could ever want to be happy.
Ignoring the fact that happiness is an internal interpretation from an external observation of the world around you and cannot be found in material objects or even outside of your own mind — the reality of the Jones’s might surprise you.
The Jones’s, if they were just that family next door, have a lot of dark secrets that you’re probably not aware of. They could suffer from an everlasting ambition and an indefinite chase without realizing their folly. They may have forgotten to live in the moment and enjoy the things they have. Instead they think the next big thing, the next purchase, the next vacation, or some other material object will be the last thing they need to complete their happiness.
Like Miley Cyrus says, “There’s always going to be another mountain.”
When the Jones’s get to the top of each mountain and think they can relax for a minute, they finally realize off in the distance there is another mountain. So they keep going and going like the Isuzu commercial, they go further.
They are hikers trapped in a nightmare that never ends and they can’t wake up. They are in pursuit of climbing Mount Everest only to reach the top and find that it’s not the highest mountain. They thrive on the knowledge that what they have is not only better than what everyone else has but it’s the best, and if it’s not the best, then they realize that it’s not better than what everyone else has, so they keep pushing until they get the best.
You see, while you’re trying to keep up with the Jones’s, it may surprise you to realize that so are they. They are not in competition with you, they are not bragging and purchasing things just to smite you. They are doing it because its the essence of their life. Showing off to the neighborhood is motivation for them to continue the hike, if there was no one else around to compete with they’d have no incentive to make the climb.
Naturally, they are going to stop and tell everyone, “Hey, I’m halfway up Everest” which is a feat that very few people can even say they’ve accomplished. But they are cursed, they can’t stop there because others have made it to the top, and when they get to the top, they’ll have to climb it again and again because others have been to the top more than once.
This is the story of their lives until they drive themselves in the grave. They are never really happy, there are a lot of internal struggles and problems that you’ll never pick up on.
The children, if they have any, resent their parents because they work too much or ignore them. The married couple lacks any deep intimacy because they are always busy in pursuit of the next mountain. Instead of focusing on each other they are focusing on some future point. Even while they are on their vacations they are probably talking about it or out shopping and ignoring the fact they are on vacation together.
They are miserable on the inside and won’t realize it till they burn out. This can come in the form of a mid-life crisis or some other catastrophic event, for some it only comes to them on their deathbed, but almost everyone will realize their error at some point. When they realize that nothing they did, nothing they accomplished, nothing they bought really brought them any satisfaction and the only thing that should have mattered is the time and love they should have shared with each other.
Like Miley Cyrus says, “It’s the climb.”
Life is all about the climb so enjoy it and be in it because the excitement and sense of accomplishment you get from getting to the top is short lived. You spend most of your life climbing up and climbing down. Life is not about getting to the mountaintop and staying up there, no one ever does.
And as Wayne Dyer says, “There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.”
Always follow your dreams but realize that not everyone has the same dream as you. Help others achieve their dreams and they’ll help you achieve yours. The time you spend helping each other and bonding is what matters. The positive impact you can make in the lives of others will outlive you.
As my brother Sweetness has always told me, “People won’t remember the date you were born or the date you died, but they’ll remember the hash mark in between.”
That hash mark is what you do with your life. You can be known as a great father, a good friend, and a valuable member of the community. Or you can be known as the dickhead that drove a Ferrari around town thinking he was better than everyone else.
The choice is yours.
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