How much is enough ??? Ask yourself Raheem Sterling

Headlines scream out that Raheem Sterling has refused a new contract that could earn him in excess of a 100,000 Pounds a week. That is 400,000 a month and a whopping 4.8 Million Pounds a week. Or 7 Million USD or 42 Crores in INR. I can go on and on. He is all of 20 years, and I really wonder why on earth he would be refusing such a good offer. 

Having been closely associated with sport I have had this conversation with a couple of cricket superstars in India and fully get it when they say that there is limited lifespan and career and that they need to maximise their earning to see out the rest of their lives.  Having said that I can also see that even these larger than life sportspeople can also  get drawn into comparisons with others. Why is player X able to get 2 times the amount I get for an endorsement ? And so on and so forth. Will this ever stop, I doubt it.

I think the question I ask is not just relevant to Raheem Sterling but to all of us, me included. I have personally gone through the entire spectrum from being insanely insecure about the amount of money I make to being very happy and contented with what I have. I realise that it is not about the amount but the state of mind. And the state of mind refuses to 'rest in peace'. Even today within this overall state of contentment, there are periods of insecurity. 

I wonder what drives this state of mind and I realise it is a lot of 'greed' rather than insecurity. All these things of 'needing to have enough for old age' or ' what if my daughter needs to go the US to study' etc etc are all just a series of justifications for action. The one and only reason for wanting more, many times is pure Greed.

And it is not just money - it is that piece of cake, or chocolate or piece of meat or that extra 'free drink'. The end is very apparent right in the beginning. Meaning that even though we claim we do not know where we are going, I think we are. And the end is most of the time very nasty.

So I ask myself - why is it so difficult to accept that I have enough and be at peace.

So should not Raheem Sterling be asking himself just this simple question - Am I happy playing for Liverpool and if the answer is yes, then just sign ??