The best things in life are not transactional
By Amanda Scali

Most of us and society tells us to reach for the stars, to strive, to Hussle hard and to always be doing and filling our plates full.
 
And in all the striving, we often want more things. We long for bigger houses, new cars, a pool, our children in the best schools and the latest iPhone or gadgets.
 
And all this striving can get exhausting and can make us miss out on the things that are most important in life.
 
When you strip it all back, all these things, the keeping up with our friends in having the latest and newest, the shiniest things we can often be left feeling a little hollow.
 
Because the latest things that were once shiny and new can quickly become commonplace in the fast-paced world we live in. And often the best things in life are not transactional.
 
They are things that we can’t place a monetary value on and are often the things that bring us the most joy and fulfilment.
 
That could be in just hanging out with your kids as they learn and grow or doing daggy and odd jobs around the house with your significant other.
 
It could be spending time with your dog or playing with a kitten. And it could be as simple as taking 5 mins out of your workday to take a walk around the block and enjoy the fresh air and watch as the seasons change around you.
 
Sometimes the simplest things are the things that make us the happiest.
 
We can often get caught in the trap that more things will make us happy, that having a bigger house will relieve our stress of the family all being on top of each other, but it doesn't necessarily solve the problem; it just shifts it.
 
When we are stripped back to the bare basic, and when we depart this world, no one places value on how much stuff we accumulated over the years but the relationships we had, the people’s lives we touched and the kindness we have shown others.