[cianosheehan]

I agree with Hobbes. If you let your financial gain dictate every element of your life, as Tien seemed to be saying, then no matter how much you earn you are never going to be happy.

Some friends may be jealous of your success, or your drive for success. They may even secretly want to hold you back. But that doesn't mean you should ditch them. There must be other qualities about them that you do like, which is why you're friends with them in the first place. Of course if the bad overrides the good, then its an obvious decision.

Many people hold the belief that money = happiness. It is a fairly sick outcome of life, that people have been brainwashed into this frame of thinking. The pursuit of material gain never ends...if this is how you measure your happiness, or joy in life, you will never find happiness or joy. No matter how much you make, it may temporarily fill the void, but soon you will realise that the void reappears, because your route to fulfillment is fundamentally flawed.

In saying this, I am all for challenging oneself and pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Refusing to take on new things, as has already been said, is usually based on fear of the unknown. Allowing fear to dominate your life is very -EV