Entire generations of men and women have been led to believe in the God of individualism, a false God that preaches that in order to give life meaning one should sacrifice everything for career success, material gain, and individual pleasure. I too was misled and brainwashed by modern media, cheap entertainment and fake mentors. I too was determined to amass as much money and power as humanly possible while disregarding everything else. I too was decided to pursue wealth by any means possible. Teenage dreams that consumed me before life actually began. I came to realize that no amount of material success would bring me even a small portion of the joy and meaning that those closest to me provided.
Material success is important
Having money and power is important, and every man should strive to improve financially and professionally. Having money and power will allow you to have certain freedoms and to provide your family with some things that wouldn't be possible otherwise. That's noble and a very good argument for the pursuit of wealth. No one is arguing against that. But there is a thin line that divides a healthy relationship with a professional career from a overexaggerated obsession with professional growth. Most people have been so manipulated by the media and progressive thinking that they've been convinced of the false narrative of success as a measure exclusively of wealth and coporate success. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do better at your job, with wanting to get a raise and earn more money (that is, if you're employed). But if you find yourself unable to see your friends and family as a consequence of a workaholic lifestyle that renders you incapable of doing or thinking about anything else, you are doing things wrong. Maybe you'll grow in your career, maybe you'll become CEO of a big company. Is that worth sacrificing years of your life and God knows how many hours of joy with your loved ones? Probably not.
If you find yourself unable to see your friends and family as a consequence of a workaholic lifestyle that renders you incapable of doing or thinking about anything else, you are doing things wrong.
Individualism
This obsession with material and professional success stems largely from a culture of individualism, which, if you ask me, is not as healthy as we initially thought. Yes, understanding the uniqueness and autonomy of each individual is a wonderful tool against the forces of collectivism, communism, and cultural marxism that plague the western world. But too much focus on the individual leads to another, equally dangerous extreme, in which the whole of human relationships is defined by the selfish desires of each individual. Extreme individualism completely eliminates the spirit of charity, community, and giving that families and other groups once had. If the only important thing is how you feel, then you won't put much effort into cultivating healthy relationships, and will instead use and manipulate everyone for your own personal gain. We are seeing this all over the world. This is why most people nowadays are so untrustworthy and disloyal. They will be loyal to you as long as they gain something from it. Loyalty is a virtue that cannot exist in an individualistic society. To be loyal to a group, an idea, or a person, you have to be willing and able to sacrifice some things. If personal gain and pleasure is all that matters, if loyalty as a virtue is no more, everyone and everything else is simply a piece in a macabre game in which everyone stabs eachother in the back. Extreme individualism means that there is no higher purpose, no sense of community and no sense in living for something else than pleasure.
The antidote: Family
Family is the antidote to individualism. There is purpose in family. In building something worthy that you can be proud of. No amount of financial success will give your life meaning. A life devoted to your family and friends will. You can give your life meaning by putting your family as the number one priority, so that no matter how much your boss demands of you, no matter how stressed out you are, no matter how difficult your life gets, you can go home to your wife and kids and get some perspective on the things that really do matter. Cherish your family, they are what matters most. Your job is just a job, your career is just something you do. Your family is who you are at the deepest level. Care for your family. Care for your wife and kids, be there for them. Don't spend your life in a draining, boring cubicle. To live life fully is to be a man of family.