That 'If I won the Lottery' conversation and how we could use it to help others.

I used to think that if I won the Lottery I’d tell my boss where to go, get a seriously expensive hotel room, invite everyone I know and have a huge party. Now I’m not so sure, the dream always keeps changing … but that’s just age. That ‘If I won the Lottery’ conversation happens the world over, every day in every office, pub etc … if you've never had this conversation ... oh come on, you must of done ... but if you haven't I recommend you do, it's both fun and therapeutic. It is also guaranteed to foster a heated debate. In my office we have it once a week, and the same at home with my Fiancée. But it's a ridiculous conversation to have considering you've got more chance of understanding politics than winning the lottery (marginally) but that being said, it does reveal very interesting truths about people's personalities when you talk about large sums of money. Some people are very vocal, talking about hotels and champagne and building recording studios in their garden, driving sports cars into the fountain at Lourdes etc. Some people are very guarded 'I wouldn't even tell my mother how much I'd won, just so it didn't effect our relationship, you know...' What? ?YOUR MOTHER? If my relationship with my mother would be jeopardised by lottery win, I wouldn't buy the tickets in the first place (that being said, if I didn't have to work I’d see her a lot more and we might get all cranky with one another) ... Some people are pragmatic and humble ... 'Yes I'd give to charity, and I’d pay off my friends mortgages' which is fine. But isn't it funny, how we're all desperate for cash, but this conversation reveals that we're actually scared of winning it, scared of having all that choice and freedom, scared ... of ourselves! The idea of blowing lots of cash in one go is at once exciting and terrifying at the same time. If you’ve never had much money, and I haven’t, the thought of spending it tends to make me feel a little guilty. It would take a lot to get the idea out of my head that £80,000 for an Aston Martin isn’t a total waste of money. Perhaps this is why you hear so many stories of people’s lives being ruined by lottery wins. No sooner do they have the money than they lose it, or lose their friends or get ahead of themselves. We seem to have an inbuilt belief that being rich would change our world, our lifestyle, the places we go, the clothes we wear, etc. etc. If you had ten or twenty million, would you move to Beverly Hills? (you could just about afford a parking space for that) would you need to drive a Rolls Royce? Would you go to clubs and hotels full of other rich people with whom you’d have nothing in common? Maybe. Perhaps you’d stay in your own area but buy a nicer house … but how would that effect the people around you? People you grew up with? If you won that amount of money would they always be slightly resentful? And could you trust your friends, probably the old friends, but what about all the new ones you make as a result of being rich? Don’t get me wrong folks, I’m not saying that it would be a disaster, these are just points that come up during the conversations I’ve had about winning the big prize. The longer we talk about it (and the more beer we get down our throats) the ideas both good and bad become more extreme.

Let's turn it on its head

let me present an antidote to this conversation: If you want to talk about being rich with your friends, that’s fine … but try this one on for size … why not have a conversation about what you’d do if you lost all your money. How about putting your heads together and talking about what you’d do if that happened. Ever done that? I wonder. Ever heard the phrase 'I don't know what I'd do if I lost my money?' ... well, we all seem to know what we'd do if we had millions, but to be honest there's a much better chance of the opposite happening, perhaps not to you but someone you know or people generaly. Maybe if more people talked about this there would be more useful solutions around for those that are in that situation. Sometimes I see people on the street and think to myself … go on, be pro-active, buy a harmonica, make some cash, sort yourself an address and get a giro check every two weeks etc. Well it’s easy for me to say, I have a supportive family, an education and any number of failsafes to fall back upon. What the hell do I know? Zero! So … just an idea, and my apologies if it sounds like sanctimonious tosh, I’m only writing it because it just occurred to me. But honestly, in the same way that computers are hooked together to speed up a network, how about us trying to put the same energy into solving our nightmares as we do into planning our dreams … we might come up with some fantastic solutions ... better ones than all those government quangos who are more interested in party politics than people's lives.