Is Life a Financial Transaction?

Cha-Ching

As a bit of background, I have bipolar disorder with almost all of my issues concerning the depression side. I also have suffered from general anxiety. Fortunately, I am doing quite well, well enough to consider myself as mentally well.

About five years or so ago I started on the path to this state of mind. At this time I was taken off Clonopin, an anti-anxiety medication, because I started abusing it. My mind began to clear, and I found myself thinking more clearly as the months went by. I feel that because of this I was able to do some reality testing, and I found that my anxiety was beginning to lesson. Within six months I was no longer anxious as my normal state.

During this time I began to feel invested in my activities. In other words I had a stake in what I was doing. This was especially so when I was asked to develop and manage a client library at a psychosocial program I attend. This was the beginning of working with financial metaphors. Not only did the library position payoff, but the metaphors began to pay dividends.

I began to branch out. In addition to the library I was asked to lead a book discussion group. Because some people in the group do not say a lot I compensate for this by asking them questions. Right up my alley. I would ask how long the book was and how far along they were, what they thought of the author, or had they read any other books by the author or in that genre. I profited hugely from leading this group. My self esteem started to take off, I saw life in a more positive light (there is another metaphor of life to write about), and my life started to take on meaning and purpose.

I started to diversify my activities. I began to cook and bake. While I had always cooked, my repertoire was limited, mostly stove top stuff and very little baking—almost nil. So my ledger began to fill up, and I now have a wide range of cooking and baking experience under my belt.

I also tallied up more than a half a dozen certificates from MOOCs. I did finally lose interest in them though. After appraising the situation I decided that they had become to repetitive. While I enjoy the discussion section, I found that it did not really offer me any real connections with the other students.

I began to take risks. I actually apply for two jobs early last year. One was at a nearby grocery store, and the other was at a used bookstore. Both offered part time positions. And, both were within my field of interest—food and books. I did not get either job, but I did interview for the bookstore position. This year one of my goals is to apply for a page position at my local library.

And, finally I spend more and more time in my writing endeavors. My writing began in some discussion groups on goodreads along with the writing of book reviews, which I also posted on amazon if I had read them on my Kindle. I liked the interaction I had with others, especially in the “Atheists and Skeptics” group. I also started adding some friends on goodreads, and so I was writing some messages to these friends.

But, when I started to deliver my blogs, I found that I was profiting emotionally, and the personal rewards where often great. I have gained a number of followers, some who are actually reading my blog posts and a few who comment on them. I like to think that I deliver some goods to people through my blogging, getting them to ask questions of their own.

I found it was necessary to allocate my time and resources to meet the demands that my projects, which contribute to my life endeavors. Can I profit from this? I ask myself this an often, and, I feel like I do.

As you can see my life is full of financial metaphors. This should not be surprising since our linguistic world is chocked full of metaphors. Most metaphors are so common that we often fail to realize it.

To sum up, it all started with being invested in something, and I started getting benefits from doing so. As I branched out my life got richer and richer. My life projects are now diversified enough that I rarely want for something to do. So in the ledger that accounts for my life I am far into the black.

This little cutie pays me in happy points as part of my cat reward program.

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