WHAT’S THE USE OF HAPPINESS? IT CAN’T BUY YOU MONEY

An old joke from Henny Youngman that sounds light, but carries something heavier underneath. It exposes a familiar tension: we often measure life in terms of what it produces, earns, or proves.

We are, in subtle ways, wired towards money and external validation. Not just for survival, but as shorthand for success, safety, even identity. Yet that wiring can quietly pull us away from something harder to hold onto — whether we actually know ourselves.

That question sharpened after watching a documentary on David Bowie.

What stayed with me wasn’t just his reinvention or fame, but his relationship with success. He didn’t seem to chase commercial approval. He wrote for himself. He followed curiosity, not consensus. And when success arrived, it felt secondary — almost incidental.

That reframes something important. When creativity is led by external validation, it can start to shrink. When it’s led by internal truth, it expands — even if the outcome is uncertain.

Which brings me back to the joke.

“What’s the use of happiness? It can’t buy you money.”

It’s ironic, but also revealing. We often try to convert happiness into something measurable, something that “counts.” But perhaps the more radical move is the opposite: to build a life that feels aligned, even when it doesn’t neatly match conventional definitions of success.

Not everyone needs to be centre stage. Much of what is original and meaningful happens at the edges — where people are less concerned with performance and more concerned with truth.

Here’s to those on the margins. Not outside success, but beyond being defined by it.
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