Are sex workers happy? Do people who sell their soul for money happy?

The question I really want to pursue in this post in if money does buy happiness. The eternal question which bothers everyone, including those with the riches and those without. Those without, are clearly more certain about the answer.

What makes people happy with their work?

Let’s start with the whore. Is she happy doing what she does? Well, if money is the core reason for her selling the body, it’s unlikely that she would find happiness in her work. However, if she does enjoy the promiscuous lifestyle she leads and enjoys making her clients feel happy with her services, she would find joy in being a prostitute.

What would make a prostitute happy?

That’s what money should be. The society derides sex workers because they judge the prostitute for selling her body. However, if you look closely at it, hundreds and thousands of people do work they hate, for money. A prostitute who indulges in prostitution by choice is more useful to society than people who do their work purely for money, since they won’t give it their best. To rephrase it, a passionate prostitute is more useful than a mercenary employee.

I love writing, the stage and making people happy through my work. During my work, I have made money writing for people and every time I write, I give it my best. If writing makes me money, it makes me happy because it is money I made doing something I enjoy.

That brings me to my core philosophy of money. Money is of three kinds:

Mercenary money

Mercenary money has money as the only motivation. Unfortunately, majority of the world is engaged in making mercenary money. That is one of the fundamental problems of society because of which there is a lot of unhappiness. People get into jobs they have no motivation for, whatsoever. MBA schools admit students in lure of placements in any job, in any industry.

There is no guidance available throughout the education hierarchy on why you should choose a particular career and how your skills and aptitude can be best utilized.

When you and I make money that only pays the bills and doesn’t bring joy while we are doing the work, we end up wasting a large proportion of our time doing work we find meaningless, and plain boring. Sex workers would find their work a meaningless chore since they do it for the money.

That’s why we end up hearing stories of unfulfilled millionaires and suicides. Yes, it’s easier to cry in a Mercedes, than on a two wheeler. However, if the guy on a two wheeler is a balloon salesman and he loves balloons, he is happier than the man in the Mercedes on a daily basis, if the guy in the Mercedes is a mercenary. He won’t cry as much since his work does give him fulfillment, and who knows, because he loves his work, he will also end up buying the car one day.

Passion money

The second kind of money is passion money. The story of the balloon salesman is that of passion money. The money that he makes brings him joy because he loves his work. When you love your work, you will find meaning and fulfillment in it, even if there is lesser money to start with. Can sex workers make passion money- it is an unlikely question to start with.

On the contrary, let’s say somebody has a business of selling floor tiles, and has no interest in it, he won’t be as enthusiastic about the business. He/she would find his days boring and dull. In that way, that money becomes a curse.

Fuel money

Now, everyone, regardless of their motivation needs fuel money. The way you would want to design your life for happiness is use fuel money to make passion money. If one doesn’t have fuel money, than one cannot even carry on with life. One needs to pay the bills-for a house (rented/own), a means of transport, food and life’s basic necessities. One needs fuel money for that. As long as one has fuel money, he can keep going and make more passion money.

The point I am trying to make is that mercenary money is not worth it.

So far, we discussed the kinds of money one can make. Let’s look at money from a different perspective now.

Does any kind of money buy you happiness?

It depends on what it is used for. What can you do with money? Money as fuel is worthy. Money made selling your body like sex workers, or your soul as an employee doing grunt work isn’t worthy.

You can buy a house, a car, or other material possessions. Let’s take an example of something people really covet buying with money- an iPhone. It makes you happy for a few days and then you get on with your regular life. That’s the problem with things money can buy. They buy what I call fleeting happiness.

If you get addicted to fleeting happiness, you will struggle with being happy on a consistent basis. You see, it’s like a drug. Drug addicts are addicted to drugs. When they consume the drug, they are happy for a few fleeting moments and when the impact goes away, they feel miserable. It’s an addiction, which only brings fleeting, superficial moments of happiness.

Anything that money buys cannot buy sustained happiness. Sustained happiness can only come from self-awareness and doing things in line with who you are. It takes way more effort than just giving in to instant urges of fleeting happiness. Work should be meaningful and work should make us happy.

Marketing works on making you want things. Marketing makes you believe you need more clothing, the latest gadgets, and the latest car, among other things. That’s fine. That’s their job. However, the distinction is for you to understand that those things won’t buy you sustained happiness, but a fleeting one.

To summarize this point, does money buy happiness?

Yes, it does buy happiness, but it’s short-lived. It doesn’t last beyond a few days.

Do we need money in life to be happy?

Yes, absolutely. Money is fuel and using money we can achieve our dreams. Money can make the world a better place if used productively. Think about venture funding. If venture funding did not exist, we would probably not have the likes of Facebook, Airbnb etc. It is money that made those start-ups possible.

Money is a great force and it can make the world a better place if used rightfully. The way to use money rightfully, is to use it as fuel.

Money is not the purpose of life. It is a medium to achieve your purpose, which is the subject of another post.

Thank you for reading.

The purpose of this blog to help you find your happiness. Please read the other posts on the blog, and follow so that you get updates when new posts are published. Please share any posts you like with your friends so that they can also find their happiness. If you have any feedback for me, please leave it in the comments and I would be happy to work on it. If you would like to support my writing and this blog, you may please send a donation through PayPal here.

I appreciate the time you spent in reading the blog and wish you happiness.

Love,

Amarvani