It’s easy to get pulled in various directions by the various “shiny pennies” in life- money, big house, fancy car, designer clothes, important job title, and so on. By going after these shiny pennies we easily lose track of what matters to us most- loved ones, our health, and pursuing what brings us joy and happiness. We start to compare ourselves to others and enter a race of who has the most stuff when at the end of the day it is not these tangible things that bring us happiness- it is the intangible- feelings of love, acceptance, security, freedom, friendship, family, and more.
Shiny pennies are such a good distraction because they seem to resemble those intangible things that we want so badly. We want to feel accepted by others so we go after the big house because we think that once we have that, people will think that we are worthy of their time and interest when really we are left with no money left in the bank, we are constantly fighting with our partner over bills and in fear of losing the house and maybe even our relationship. We may work hours on end in a job we hate, just because we earn promotion after promotion and now have an impressive job title that would quiet anyone who ever said we wouldn’t succeed, but all of this is at the cost of our own happiness and health.
In the end, we are really just fighting against negative feelings and messages when we go after shiny pennies rather than choosing to live a life that is based on our true values. Once we are able to quiet these negative voices, we are free to live an intentional life that matches our true values.