Empty Calories, Empty Monies...

I’ve been thinking about this strange thing we do with money. We treat it like fuel, assuming that as long as it keeps us moving, everything must be fine. But just like food, money also comes in two varieties — empty calories and nutritious calories.

Empty calorie money is simple: you do the work, the money comes in, and technically nothing is wrong. You can run, you can function, you can tick off every box of a “productive” life. But somewhere inside, something feels hollow. There’s no meaning, no direction, no sense of being part of something larger than yourself. It’s like eating a big sugary meal — you feel full for a moment, then strangely empty again. You start wondering, “Is this it? Is this what I’m going to do for the next 20 years?”

Nutritious money feels different. It’s not just income; it’s impact. It’s the kind that comes when someone looks you in the eye and says, “My life changed because of you.” When a client sends you a photo, or a message at midnight, or a quiet thank-you that shakes something awake inside you. You sleep deeper on those nights. Not because you earned more, but because you mattered more.

And once you taste that kind of money, it’s hard to go back. It’s hard to chase work that drains you when you’ve experienced work that fills you. Hard to settle for transactions when you’ve felt transformation.

Maybe the real question isn’t “How much did I earn today?” but “What did my earning do to me today?” Did it nourish me? Or did it only keep me running?

Because, in the long run, we don’t just live on money. We live on what it does to our spirit