These days, pop culture has done a serious disservice to young adults by relaying the message that somehow, success is synonymous with having big cars, bigger houses, and unlimited money in one's bank account. We’ve started defining success as the social standing of a person in society, especially based on their monetary position. What people don’t realize is that it’s not all that important to become a millionaire. Another important point that everyone needs to digest is that not everyone becomes rich during their lifetime. Only a few people, who by a combination of skill and luck, get to the point where they can be called rich, while the rest of the population lives out average lives.

This isn’t to say that average lives aren’t worthwhile. In fact, if you sit down and think about it, there isn’t much that money and fame can offer a person beyond a certain point. Yes, money is necessary to some degree. Not being able to afford food, travel, and basic healthcare can be major sources of misery. Anyone who says that money doesn’t bring happiness is wrong – however, it’s true that once you have a certain amount of money, you stop needing more of it. After this point, at which you could be considered a well-to-do citizen, stacking up more dollar bills in your bank account becomes unnecessary and almost downright harmful. Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t chase fame and money blindly, but should rather stick to your personal values and goals:

You’ll Likely Get Rich Once You Achieve Your Goals

You don’t have to be filthy rich by the end of your journey. Even if you have close to a million dollars by the time you’re ready to retire, you should consider yourself a huge winner! Almost no one retires with an amount like that. And having such an amount is relatively simple if you spend wisely and keep working hard on what you love. In today’s world, this is almost as easily done as it is said because you can earn money from virtually anything – from being a comedian on YouTube to an artist on some other platform.

You can go for any career you want, and it doesn’t even have to be centered around art, which most people deem to be their dream. Rather, you can chase just about any whim, whether you want to be a scientist, engineer, manager, or an entrepreneur. There aren’t many skills left which you can’t monetize, so go ahead, do what you love, and earn while you’re at it!

Money Doesn’t Always Last

Suppose you do end up having just as much money and fame as you’ve always dreamed of. There’s absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that your life will stay as blissful as it is. We’ve seen countless celebrities who’ve lost it all. They’ve gone bankrupt and forgotten, or worse yet, notorious for their past activities. That’s the sort of fate we’d all like to avoid. Of course, this doesn’t go to say that everyone who’s rich and famous ends up in a bad place, but more to point out that wealth isn’t a permanent ally. Your friends and family matter far more to you than a bit of luxury.

Having Lots of Wealth Isn’t as Fulfilling

Some things simply cannot be bought, and that’s probably what you should be striving for in life. As we’ve mentioned earlier, money isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and having it in the right proportion can significantly improve your life. However, it’s the endless pursuit of money which tends to cause all the problems. Happiness and fulfillment are feelings which come to humans when they’re actively seeking to complete a goal. With money, there’s no real goal which leaves people who chase it lost to some degree. You should instead strive to spend your life with people you care about and doing things that you love to do. So, go out there and stop caring about how much your net worth is. Once you do that, you’ll see that your levels of stress will go down by a huge margin!

If you stop chasing money and focus on making yourself better, chances are you’ll get it anyway. True success would be to live a life of contentment which you could think about fondly without the worry and stress.