But do we really? Now, hustler, forex, and entrepreneur twitter, give me a second to explain. You may or may not learn something. Let me give you a little background.
I grew up in a middle class family. My mom is an educator and my dad worked in the line of law enforcement while also being a naval reservist officer. We lived in the suburbs of Atlanta with a decent amount of land and my parents drove nice cars. We were living the "American Dream" (whatever that means). Then the recession of 2008 hit. My dad had to do his second tour in Iraq and when he came back, he didn't have a job. He was the breadwinner, and with the loss of his entire salary, things were tough.
It was an adjustment for the entire family. Everyone had to go without something they wanted, often times, something they needed. My dad was able to find another job about a year later, but still wasn't making the money he was making before he went to Iraq. Plus, my parents had to play catch up at this point. Shortly after that, my brother graduated high school and went to college. If you've spent any time in college, then you know, it's expensive. The whole family had to make adjustments. Sacrifices were made by everyone in order for everyone to have the things they needed. Money and how much we had (or didn't) was never not thought about.
When I went to college, I worked. A LOT. My parents tried to convince me that I didn't need to work but I saw what it was like when my brother was in school. One thing about me... I refuse to not have money. And school never stopped. I always had a full load and took classes every single summer. I always had my parents support and they gave me money when/if I fell short but for the majority of my college career, it was on me.
Unexpectedly, everything came to a screeching halt. In 2020, the Coronavirus broke. Campus closed, my job closed, and I was stuck at home. I saw on Twitter that people were applying for Unemployment to help with the loss of income, so I did the same. I went through the process, became approved and started getting a weekly $600 added into my bank account. There was also a few times that my university handed out relief checks to their students. Basically I was rolling in money.
After I was done buying things that I wanted, but could never afford, the money was just in my account for my day to day expenses. I caught myself no longer looking at price tags while at the grocery store and visiting Ulta a little more frequently. With this extra money, I was able to dive into makeup, buy whatever I needed, and fall in love with it. I think its safe to say that I would not be doing the things I'm doing now without that money.
Many times, I wander what I'd be doing had I not received that money. What life would have offered me, what I would've ended up doing after graduation. Those thoughts lead me to think about how yes, I had the same 24 hours in a day that someone else had but someone who didn't get the unemployment checks was at work half of the day and didn't see even half of the money that dropped into my account. While they were working, I was chasing my dreams.
Although I have never been rich, I know what it is like to have very little and come into more money. It can significantly change your course. We all have 24 hours in a day, but we don't all have the same 24 hours a day. This isn't to say that people shouldn't continue to work hard or that they should give up but it provides us all a different perspective on how life operates for other people.