“It’s the little things in life that mean the most”, “Money can’t buy you happiness” — we’ve all heard the cliches. We’ve read the quotes. But do we believe them? Do we live by them? Or do we get bogged down by the big things in life that do seem to mean a lot, and the money that buys things that do seem to make us smile?

It’s hard not to get wrapped up in material things. We live in a society that defines status by how much stuff we acquire. Driving a nice car alludes to success, living in a big house assumes a happy family lives inside, and fancy clothes are correlated with power and confidence. But at the end of the day — what is any of it good for? You can ride a bike to work, live in a tiny apartment, and wear hand-me-down clothes and still have the personality, intellect, and compassion as any CEO of a major corporation.

This may sound mawkish and sentimental, but it’s all true. You are not defined by what you do, what you wear, what you drive, or where you live. When your life comes to its end, would you rather have someone say, “Wow, she was an excellent accountant” or “Wow, she had such passion for life and brought sunshine into every room that she walked into”. Call me crazy, but the choice seems rather obvious.

Yes, live a life that suits you, drive a car that won’t break down every other week, and work at a job that provides you with a respectable standard of living. In today’s society, there are things you need to strive toward in order to survive. But do not for a single moment think that these are the things that define you. You are your character: your charisma, passion, energy, affection, respect, dignity, laughter, and love. These are the things that are too often overlooked, but in the end, mean absolutely everything.

Have you ever noticed the gravitational pull that the world has on us sometimes? Towards people, specifically. Sometimes people do terrible things — it doesn’t always mean that they’re terrible people, but maybe that they messed up, were confused, or got lost in a moment that was so outside of their normal realm that they were unsure of how to handle themselves. These bad actions can hurt us, though. They can make us question the familiar and the stable and the goodhearted. But despite the doubts, despite the uncertainties, despite the heartache and the confusion, we get pulled back. Something keeps us close. Maybe it’s the fear of losing the familiar. Maybe it’s the confusion of not knowing what to do. Or maybe it’s the small piece of hope that we hang on to, wishing that those terrible things that have been done to us weren’t because people are terrible, but because people simply make mistakes. Maybe it’s that small hope that when the hurt is put aside, love, in some  mysterious and twisted form, still remains.