Can Money Buy Happiness?

 I think money can buy happiness. Or at least, it can get you material things and experiences that you then have the opportunity to enjoy.

A couple times a month, I grab a friend and leave Uni at lunch to take a glorious stroll down the street to a coffee shop and get a seasonally appropriate drink. Recently, this has been a dirty chai latte for six to seven. I scurry against the biting wind and inhale the sweet smell of rotting leaves in the late autumn. The sky is dark and cold and blustery, and I absorb what little sunlight I can. But the contrast between the harsh outdoors and the warm coziness of the chai is delicious. I sip it slowly on the way back to the building and laugh with my coffee buddy. The money buys the latte, but it doesn’t buy the rest of the experience. Without the wind and the cold, the chai would be much less comforting. If I just downed it one gulp, not feeling the warmth and the spice at the back of my throat, it wouldn’t be nearly as nice. Money can buy nice things, but it can’t make you enjoy them.

One day, just before cross country practice, I was feeling exceedingly stressed out by everything I needed to accomplish in the next week. So I glumly walked over to Starbucks and bought a cold chai latte, moping about the fact that I needed to go to practice and do my homework and write essays for college applications. I was so lost in this negative swirl that the latte just disappeared, without me really tasting it. I had spent the money for the chai, but was just as unhappy as when I’d started drinking it. 

Money can be spent on experiences. Like summer camps. I’ve been to Illinois Summer Youth Music Musical Theatre camp twice now, and had a very enjoyable experience. I mean, it's intense, so there is a certain level of stress that comes along with it. And I remember wondering if I really deserved to be there, and feeling like everyone else around me was so much more amazing than me. Maybe they were looking down on me, adjusting their behavior because they saw me as less skilled or as a child. But, even though I experienced those thoughts, I didn’t dwell on them too much. I had to dismiss them, in order to actually enjoy the experience. Once again, just money isn’t enough to be happy: I needed to take steps to enjoy what money could buy. 

I think pretty much anything you can purchase can be devoid of joy if you let it be.