Jack Yesner Week 1- Could Money Buy Your Happiness?

At dinner one night on my vacation a couple of weeks ago, my phone had nearly died and I tried entertaining myself for a few minutes before the food arrived by asking my family “Would you Rather” questions. As no one else in the family had forgotten to charge their phone as I had, it was difficult to find an audience to answer my questions. However, one particular question I asked interested me deeply. I asked, “Would you rather have a large salary working at a job you hate, or work in your dream job but have a small salary?” To my surprise, my entire family answered in unison that they would prefer to work in a job that paid a high salary, despite their hatred of the occupation. I disagreed, as I believed that if you are spending many hours of your life working in a place you do not enjoy, you are merely wasting your own time. The money did not matter to me, as the time you spent enjoying the job would pay for itself.

       However, I continued thinking about it later that day, and began to reassess my previous claim. The only previous job experience I have held was as a camp counselor over the summer. I was paid in community service hours instead of money, so I reframed the “salary” part of my question. I thought of money as experience and opportunity instead. I was a counselor for fifteen five year olds. In the group I was in over the summer, I received recognition from a lot of camp leaders, received the counselor of the week award, and was chosen to be color war captain. Being a counselor in my group gave a lot of benefits. However, I was both physically and emotionally drained after every day, and spent most of my free time sleeping to recover from the day’s events. I would much rather be in an age group with older campers, however much of my benefits would disappear as I am less experienced in leading an older group. These conflicting possibilities, one of happiness and one of benefits, continue to fuel my indecision of which camp group to join if I return to camp next summer.

The one final factor that I did not foresee becoming as influential as it did was the opinion of others. When asking my mom, who works at the camp in a high position, which group I should join, my mom immediately voiced her support for the group of five year olds. My recognition and perks were more important to her than my happiness, as my success in the younger group benefits her as well. Families and friends of workers would generally also campaign for the high salary choice with the same reasoning, as the extra money benefits them. Additionally, to families and friends, happiness is time shared together, not at work at a desired profession. This may be why my family decided to pick the high salary option. They wanted to be able to share the salary with their family instead of sharing their time at their desired workplace.

Currently, I would still rather have a profession I love than a high paying occupation, however, with the right offer I might reconsider my stance. I strive to have an occupation that I enjoy and pays well. Do you know anyone who has had to choose between a high paying job and an enjoyable job? What did they choose? What would you choose?