Home Above Gold

Today I’m borrowing a post from another blogger. Do you love the works of J.R.R. Tolkien? Do you wish you were a hobbit sometimes? What makes you truly happy? Read this post from thegloriousbookworm for a good reminder of the most valuable things in life.

Home Above Gold

thegloriousbookworm

6 days ago

“Go back to your books, your fireplace. Plant your trees, watch them grow. If more of us valued home above gold, it would be a merrier world.” – Tolkien

This quote resonates with me to my very core. In this modern day world too many people value money and material things above anything else. Can you imagine if everyone you met had a true appreciation for home and the simpler things in life? Oh, what a world it would be.

There’s nothing better than coming home after a long day in corporate America. The minute I step through my front door, all the worries and urgency of the day just melt away. Everything moves so quickly in our world today. No one takes a second to stop and smell the roses. It’s all about making money, buying the newest gadgets, and being better than the person sitting next to you. But life wasn’t meant to be that way, we as humans have set these impossible standards for ourselves. We’re constantly looking at ways that we can crush the competition. 

For a very long time, I lived my life trying to be better than everyone else. I’m a short Hispanic woman and I felt like, because of that, I always had something to prove. I didn’t want anyone to think I was incapable of “making it.” It took me being emotionally abused by an ex, who I’d chosen to be with because he had power, for me to finally realize that being the best of the best wasn’t what life was about.

Life is about doing what makes you happy. It’s about finding yourself. The day I understood that there was more to life than gold and riches, was the day that I truly started living. My newfound appreciation for life was such a foreign feeling. I wasn’t buried in my phone anymore. I actually looked at my surroundings and took them in, instead of power walking with my head down and my headphones drowning out all the beautiful sounds of life. I wasn’t comparing myself to the person sitting next to me. I was working to be able to be home doing the things that I love and being with the people I cared about. Instead of working to have more money and more things.

Take a look at the life you’re living. Are you happy? Are you doing the things you love? Are you working hard for yourself? Or just so you can be better than someone else? There comes a time when we have to ask ourselves these questions and when we have to realize that there’s more to life than gold. If you’ve come to this realization, tell me what inspired you. If you haven’t, tell me what’s holding you back. Maybe we can figure out how to get you there together.

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