Vortex
Most, if not all of us, have made sacrifices to help our families live a better life. We witness the extreme side of that argument every day when we see Indian/Bangladeshi men working 12 hour days, 6 days a week in 40 degree plus heat for $200 a month. How they manage to send home half of that to feed their families is a minor miracle but a miracle their families are no doubt grateful for. We are, whether we like it or not, merely doing the same thing, only considerably higher up the food chain. Our salaries, despite what some would like to portray on these forums, is in fact bloody good.
However, while I accept your desire to provide a high standard of support to those around you, just ask yourself one question. If you drop dead tomorrow from your continuous hard work, who will be there to shed a tear over your coffin as it's lowered into the Earth. Not your bosses and certainly not their bosses. Your demise will have lasted a mere few seconds in their thoughts as they continue to entertain clients and Russian girls every weekend on that huge yacht you often see moored out from the Marina. The same yacht and lifestyle you helped provide for while your own family is left devastated.
Whilst your widow may well thank you for the insurance payout, your children will certainly not. Don't look back in 20 years from now and regret missing the one and only opportunity you have to be with the most valuable asset in your life. Them.
Money provides material wealth. Health and happiness provide a wealth that is priceless.
'The clock of life is wound but once
And no man has the power
To tell just when that clock will stop
At late or early hour.
Now is the only time we have
So live, love and toil with will
Place no faith in tomorrow
For the clock may then be still!'
Harry