Free Fridays: A rich life.

29 August 2025

Aug 29, 2025

Sent Fadza this reels the other day,

“Bills are paid. Wife is hot. Kids are happy. Definition of a rich life.”

Was initially meant to be a joke about the hot wife part haha. But it became a deeper conversation between us as we had a really nice date over paella recently.

We’ve been so brainwashed to equate richness to material things - promotions, bigger houses, designer bags, or more zeros in the bank account. But the older we get, the more we see that true wealth is contentment. It’s your bills under control. It’s the people you love being healthy. It’s laughing over dinner. It’s knowing that there’s love in your life.

Our Prophet saw said, “Richness is not having many possessions, but true richness is the richness of the soul.”

And another one that I like so much when I heard it, he also said, “Whoever wakes up secure in his home, healthy in his body, and has his food for the day - it is as if the whole world has been gathered for him.”

Ahhhh so beautiful! While the world teaches us to measure wealth in currencies, the religious has always taught us to measure it in contentment.

As Fadza and I went through our difficult time, it has changed or corrected a lot in our perspectives. We have much less material wealth than before, but what we have now are things money can’t buy - time with each other, happier kids, peace in our hearts. Oh my god, we’re actually the richest we’ve ever been, we thought together. Even when we had a lot of material wealth before, it always came with stress and less time.

Do you guys the know the businessman and fisherman parable?

A wealthy businessman once saw a fisherman relaxing by the sea. He asked why the fisherman didn’t work harder to buy more boats, expand his business, and become rich. The fisherman said “Because I caught enough fish today. After I enjoy the sun, I’m going back home to play with the kids. Then at night, I’m meeting up with my friends.”
The businessman advised, “If you catch more fish, you could earn more money.”
The fisherman asked, “Then what would I do?”
“With the extra money, you could own two boats, maybe three boats, and you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me.”
The fisherman asked, “Then what would I do?”
The businessman said, “Well, then you could really enjoy life. You could have time to play with the kids and spend time with your friends.”
The fisherman looked at the businessman, “Isn’t that what I’m doing now?”

Turns out the fisherman is already rich - he had everything he needed already. I wonder who’s truly richer – the wealthy businessman or the happy fisherman?

Of course this doesn’t mean we should drop everything and not have a care in the world about our careers – to each his own. But it’s a nice little reminder that true richness is probably already owned by you - it already lies in your heart. It only gets forgotten when you scroll through social media and start comparing your life to others, diminishing the happiness you’ve already felt.

It’s the laughter in your life. Or the peck on the cheek when your loved one comes home. Or reading to the kids before bedtime.