Quality of life over quantity of money earned

“She was in Germany for a long time. She had learned the language, found a good job, made friends, and built her own “home.” You could say that she had a comfortable life. What can lead a person to make a drastic decision and completely change their life, to 180 degrees, and move to a much poorer country but with a completely different way of enjoying life?

Over time, she learned that money is not everything in life. There is no use having money in your account at the end of the month if you do not have time to spend it or people to enjoy. When can you enjoy it? When the oldness will knock on your door when all your friends have passed away and your children will not have time to see you or go on vacation with you because you are too old and grumpy?

Over time she learned that having a comfortable life does not necessarily mean that is a happy life. Going on vacation twice a year for a week, and having to plan everything at least a year or six months in advance, making sure that friends have the same vacations as you and the rest of the year you are only at home and at work, at home and at work. She knew that life should mean more than that; more than the hamster wheel where she traded all her time in exchange for money.

Over time she learned that having met amazing people who became like her own family does not mean that at some point she will not have to leave them all to continue on her path and follow her destiny. She knew that whoever is supposed to remain in her life will remain, no matter how many oceans or countries separate you from those people.


Over time, she learned that if you do not risk getting out of your comfort zone at some point, you will never be able to appreciate all the good things you have in life. And there are too many beautiful places to discover and too many beautiful people to meet.

Over time, she learned that living in a safe country does not mean it was the best country for her. People make an enormous difference and many times she felt out of place, she felt judged by where she was born, by where she was coming from, by her job, by the status she had in society, by what her parents did for a living.

Over time, she learned those extremely basic things are the most important in life, like having coffee with someone when a person really feels lonely. And for the simple fact of being in the hospital and not receiving visits from some people she considered very close to her, not even for at least 5 minutes to chat and have a coffee with someone, just to have company, she decided for herself she does not want to live in a society like this, where people value much more what people say than how you are as a person and your values.

Over time, she learned that she no longer had any endurance to hear people complain about insignificant things. She began to appreciate more and more what she had in life, what she achieved, and more importantly, the people, the positive people that she had by her side who knew how to enjoy life with what little they had and did not care about appearances.

Over time, she learned that she is not the one who needs to feel strange when laughing out loud because she heard a funny story but the person next to her who does not know how to laugh at life and is afraid of people’s prejudices.

When she realized all this, she decided that this country is not for her. She does not identify with the way people are, their values, their way of showing affection to a friend, a relative, the way of seeing and enjoying life, the way of accepting things as they come and not questioning that perhaps the system can be broken, people’s minds may be outdated, life means more than just work and money, and people are more than just appearances, people are more because of the way they behave towards others and not because of the amount of money in their bank account or the job they are doing.

She personally developed a lot during this period, during these years spent there, but it was time to move on, even if it meant a lot of sacrifices, even if it meant many more hours at work for less pay. When she realized all this, she packed her memories and her belongings in a suitcase, and she left.”

I am here right now, in this incredible place after almost 3 years when, in the beginning, I had planned to stay for only one year. A person can easily fall in love with this place, with its people who enjoy life to the fullest with so so little, with its climate, with its food, with its particular way of making people feel that here is their home.

And I go out and see the streets full of people, laughing, dancing, singing, enjoying each other’s company without thinking: “What will they say if I behave in a certain way?”

I see families with their children running down the beach and falling into the sand but standing and laughing louder.

I see friends who go for a drink after work and sit by the river making jokes, telling stories, and having fun.

I see people enjoying each day as if it were a holiday and being kind to each other and helping without expecting anything in return.

I see all this and I tell myself that I would choose this place over and over again, instead of a stable job, a higher salary, people who don’t really care about you even if you share your house with them.

Each of us needs to make sacrifices to get to where we are now, but I would not trade this quality of life for a higher amount of money in my bank account at the end of each month.

What is your story?

Version in Spanish: https://journeywithmada.com/historia-nr-20

Version in Romanian: https://journeywithmada.com/povestea-nr-20/