Savings and Self Worth

Being Asian, there is a lot of weight put on money.  From an early age, I was brainwashed to thinking the more of it I had, the better I would be.  I wrongly linked money to my own self worth.  When I was a kid, my parents took a short trip.  They left us with some money for my younger brother and I to use.  I was determined to use as little of it as possible.  Who knows what was going through my head, but my guess was I wanted to show my parents I was responsible and could save a lot of money.  This came in real handy during the recession as we all had to tighten the purse strings, but I believe if taken too far, one can be a slave to money and not fully enjoy their life.  Always being frugal and saving every little penny made me feel better about myself.  In fact, this was the only thing I could do well, save and live on the bare minimal.  Sadly, due to my total dependence on other people, my skill to generate more money did not exist so all I could do was save whatever I could.  Thankfully I am learning to enjoy the finer things in life.  Once again, better late than never.  This seems to be a common theme.