#Growing up poor makes you stronger how to#

In fact, there was a study done recently that found that above the $75,000 salary range (on average, relative to cost of living) that happiness doesn’t increase much. It may be hard to believe, but you’ll eventually see it for yourself. If you can find a way to be happy when you are poor, you are so much better off than most of the wealthiest people. I don’t care what anyone tells you, that is the truth. The ability to be happy, despite having less than others, is a rare quality I’ve found. You can do much better! Comfortable With LessĪnother benefit from growing up poor is being comfortable with less.Īlthough I prefer to have money, I don’t NEED money. However, being the first person in my family to graduate college I was figuring everything out as I went.

Looking back, I would’ve done things completely different. There’s nothing from stopping you from repeating that. I transferred from community college to the University of Oklahoma and got student loans and continued to work through school. So I worked and paid my way through school. Unfortunately, I bought into the idea that because I was poor that I should start out going to community college. I didn’t do it by having exceptional athletic ability and getting a scholarship.Īlthough I was smart enough to have gotten an academic scholarship, I didn’t strive for it. In the neighborhood I grew up in, I was the only kid who ended up going to college. Now I’m not trying to pretend I’m someone special or that I’ve accomplished some miraculous feat or anything. I don’t think I would feel that way if I had grown up with wealth. When it comes to the outcome of my life, I trust myself more than anyone else to make important decisions. However, I have always had confidence in myself to figure things out and make things work. Not that I was extremely confident, in fact I was actually very insecure because the majority of my peers were very well-off and looked down on those with less. When you have had to rely on yourself from such a young age, it gives you confidence. I didn’t own very many nice things until after college, but all of the nice things I owned I had to work hard for.

#Growing up poor makes you stronger how to#

I remember having a college roommate who didn’t know how to do his own laundry and thinking “how could someone be so helpless at this age?” You don’t get to rely on someone else to hand it to you.īy the time I was in high school I was buying my own groceries, cooking all of my own meals and paying for all of my school expenses like field trips, school dances and ACT tests. If you want something, you have to go get it yourself.

It’s an acceptance that you are responsible for your life’s outcome. It wasn’t until I got to college and even after college that I realized just how helpless most people are in this regard.īeing self-reliant is more than learning how to do things that you would prefer to pay someone else to do. At the time I just assumed it was normal to learn how to fix things around the house. One thing I admired about my mom growing up was that she was never afraid of taking on a home improvement project.īeing the man of the house, I was inclined to learn how to be a handyman at a young age. That means when things break around the house, you have to learn how to fix them yourself. When you don’t have any extra money you have to learn to do more things for yourself. If you’re in a similar situation right now, just know you aren’t alone and there’s light at the end of the tunnel.įocus on the positive side of your situation and remember that the best path is NOT the path of least resistance. However, I have no hard feelings about my mom not managing her money well or my dad not helping out – because I wouldn’t be the man I am today without growing up poor. Personal finance is one of the most important skills a person can learn. In reality, we were poor because my parents both made poor financial decisions. My mom worked two jobs to keep food on the table, even if it was only ramen noodles and bologna sandwiches for weeks at a time. So there was always that constant reminder that things could have been a little worse.Īlso, we weren’t living on food stamps. I grew up in the neighborhood across the street from the projects. I’m not looking for sympathy here, because I know there are plenty of people who grew up in a situation that was much worse. We are all well aware of the benefits of growing up in a wealthy family, but today I want to talk about some of the benefits of growing up poor.įirst off, I want to be transparent and tell you that I didn’t grow up completely poor.

The benefits of growing up poor? That’s right, there’s no typo there.