During my teenage years, I read a suicide story on the internet and kept wondering why someone took his own life.
Is he possessed or did someone killed him and made it look like a suicide just like we see in movies? Different thought crossed my mind and it became more confusing when I read the story further and discovered the deceased was not just successful but rich. I didn't see the connection between a successful person and suicide because why on earth would you take you life when you have everything you want in the world? It was disclosed in the story that the person had been struggling with depression but I still couldn't connect riches and depression until I grew a lot older.
As ordinary as it sounds, happiness is a feeling every individual in this world claim to be after and we have our ways of going about it. While some people acquire and keep this feeling with ease, there are many who are struggling to be happy and it took even me time to understand what happiness truly means.
Looking back at the past, it's fair to say that my family was happy despite our struggles then. We lived in a small room, didn't have electronics or fancy things like other family but we were happy. We loved eachother whole heartedly and that helped nurtured the feeling.
But as years passed, I started losing my grip on happiness because of our situation as a family. I believe that we could become happier if we had more and these thoughts messed up with my mood. Things that made me happy ordinarily didn't mean much to me any longer and I had my eyes fixed on just securing the bag for the family.
I drifted away from my family for sometime doing multiple jobs daily which made a difference for us financially but not for me emotionally. I started eyeing bigger jobs with the thought that it would help but no matter how much I earned then, the happy feeling was temporary because after exhausting the money, that's all.
It was so bad that there were nights when I cried because all I felt was emptiness instead of the improved happiness I was chasing around. While thinking about my situation, it crossed my mind that when we were struggling as a family we were happy but things took a different turn for me despite the little growth I brought to the family.
Fortunately for me, it became clear that happiness had a slim connection with material things and true happiness lies within. I realised that we were happy as a family not because we had enough but because we were contented with what we had back then and depended on what people would tag ordinary for happiness. Somehow, I had to retrace my steps back to being happy and in the process of doing that, I cultivated some habits that has helped me stayed happy despite all the chaos happening across the world today.
I am not in any way saying I didn't need money to be happy. Of course, I need money to pay my bills and happiness comes from being about to cater for myself and loved ones but that's not all. I realized that I could be limiting ourselves to a bigger feeling of happiness by just depending on money or material things for happiness.
Achieving and maintaining happiness again started with contentment for me. The act of staying content daily births gratitude and these things makes me feel like I am on top of the world even during my most challenging time.
At a time, people envied me because they thought I had everything I wanted since they wouldn't find me brooding or complaining about my struggles. I honestly had little but practicing contentment and gratitude daily did a lot of good for me. I don't feel pressured or oppressed by anyone and I just go about with my life filled with so much happiness.
And while the little I had made me happy, there was this natural motivation to grow in life so it wasn't like praticing contentment made me stagnant.
Another thing I do is spreading happiness because I believe whatever I give out comes back to me in multiple folds so everyday, I try as much as possible to sprinkle the seeds of happiness on people, nature and even animals.
I remembered a particular day, I entered into a drainage to help a puppy. I got my clothes stained but the level of happiness I derived from that small experience can't be quantified. The best part was that for a long time, whenever I come across the dog in the neighborhood, it makes me happy that I helped it the other day.
The feeling is the same when I can help anyone and it doesn't have to be about giving out money. There are several small act of kindness I render and they help me stay happy just by reflecting on those moments.
Doing the things I love also counts a lot and the list is a long one meaning I don't run out of things to do. These activities includes spending time with my family, hanging out in nature, engaging on Hive, cooking, seeing a movie and others. Whenever I am doing these things, I have little or no worries at all. I just let myself enjoy the moment and as well let happiness spring forth from them.
Finally for this prompt, I keep negativity away both physically and mentally all the time. These things spread everywhere through people, tragic news/event and others but I try to keep my distance as much as possible.
Over the years, these practices have helped me to stay very happy. While I recognize the limitations of material wealth, embracing these simple daily activities have helped me to break from pressure or constant desire for material things all in the name of staying happy.
All Image are mine
