Have you ever been asked what would you do with a million dollars if you won the lottery today?

I know I have like at least 20 times. Each time I give a different answer because I have no idea what that  kind of money is like.

How often has money clouded your thoughts? Has it made sad or happy?

Many think that if they had a little more money they would be happy. I see this especially true in my family. My grandmother grew up in the Great Depression in America when money was an item that one would scarcely come across. She spent her youth pinching every penny and dime that she could to feed and care for her family. My mother and father worked multiple jobs while studying in college to pay tuition and bills. So the feeling like there is never enough money is a familiar story to my family history. However, I recently learned that the money after a certain point does not make you happy.

It should odds when you first hear it out loud, but work with me here. Dr. Santos in The Happiness Lab podcast episode called The Unhappy Millionaire tells the rise and fall of a lottery winner that would shock anyone. So why does this great winning caused so much pain for this lottery winner? The great vast amount of money he won became daunting and felt like his whole world revolved around it. This change in his focus from scrapping by to not knowing what to with it changed his social life, job, family, and everything he valued in his life. I will let Dr. Santos and her cohorts go  into the physiological side of this since I do not own a medial degree. But is funny to think how money could be the savior or determinant to the happiness we seek to achieve in this lifetime. This dichotomy is shocking to those who have not experienced the ups and downs of money but it doesn’t mean we can’t understand why these feelings occur or how that amount of money changes our lives.