My back problem taught me the value of passive income

My back is killing me for the past 10 days. There are days when I can walk and move without TOO much pain and there are days when I cannot lift my body from the bed or the ground – where I fell during agonizing moments of pain.

At times like this, lying in bed and hugging a tablet, mobile phone and a laptop, one questions themselves: why do I work? Why do I make money? What’s important in life? What’s the purpose of all the daily hassle?

What should the priorities be in life?

A favorite website of mine has the answer.

First comes health. Then money and then relationships. And that’s where it ends.

Without health, you’ll eventually run out of money and out of friends. When you are healthy, your main goal is to make money, to support yourself or even become rich. Since you have looked after your health and have found streams of income, it’s time to focus on relationships. Of course, most people work in the exact opposite direction and they end up with all sorts of problems, not to mention it’s too late to fix things by the time they realize it.

Now that I am dealing with a serious health issue, it puts everything into perspective. Fortunately, I’ve listened to one of the most common advice you are reading online: build passive income streams.

So, although I’m lying down in bed and I cannot spend more than ten minutes sitting at my desk, I am not in danger of ending up on the streets. Well, alright, I have a supportive family to make sure that never happens, but come on, who knows what comes next?

Thus, I now fully understand…

The value of passive income

For me, passive income translates hugely to website development. And it’s not about the website you are reading these lines on. This is an unmonetized blog.

Passive income comes from websites you can build, run, automate their management and profit from. Apart from doing some emailing here and then, if done properly, a profitable website can run on its own. And although I had realized the benefits of such an investment long time ago, it is now that I appreciate all the work that has gone into this.

Cover your living expenses with investments as fast as possible.

And since we are on the ‘passive income’ subject, such an income can be delivered by most common types of investments, such as stock trading, investing in bonds or mutual funds and real estate investing (buying to rent or flipping properties). Anything really, that makes you money without lifting a finger. And literally, I have some hard time lifting one lately!

Before you run into health problems, look after your body. It’s the one thing we have come with in this world and cannot change. Take good care of it.

While you are doing so, find some streams of passive income that you find interesting. Then spend some time on how to work them out and start building your passive income flow. When a health problem comes up – because one way or another it will come – you will thank yourself for listening to this piece of advice.

Now, let me try lifting my finger and check out how much money my websites made me yesterday while I was on painkillers and crying out like a baby.

P.S. My back problem started after a two-day suffering of gastroenteritis (yeah, back to back, can’t catch a breath for two weeks now) when I kneeled down to play with my little Eva. It was not due to some heavy lifting, although I did weight lift a lot in the past, presumably to stay fit! I am getting older, I know.

Featured photo: JPC-PROD/Shutterstock