Monday Musing
[ Karyir Riba ]
Dear readers, let me begin with wishing everyone a very happy new year. May you all have a wonderful and prosperous year ahead.
Hope everyone had a great time celebrating the new year with their families and friends. It is always a pleasure to see people posting pictures and videos of their picnics and parties on social media platforms.
If you are like me, though, you must have spent your waiting night and new year wrapped in a blanket, on your couch, watching Netflix and stuffing your mouth with all the food that you can get your hands on. The little breaks taken were to reply to all well-wishers and to send out wishes to my own close associates.
So, in between drooling over Uhtred Ragnarsson (main character of The Last Kingdom on Netflix), and trying to ignore the blasting, undecipherable concoction of various songs playing from all around the neighbourhood, I couldn’t help but reminisce about how much fun we used to have as kids during this time of the year.
On the waiting night, my father would go to the length of bringing the television out on the lawn, and all of us kids and our cousins would sit around the campfire. There would be a barbecue going on, lots of chit-chats, lots of laughter, singing and dancing. Oh, how I miss those days!
Hats off to my parents for always making the start of a year exciting and memorable for us. I really cannot fathom from where they brought the energy to do all that for us. If we had to compare, my husband and I are failing miserably at doing the same for our kids. My parents had four, we have only two.
In our defence, our children must have enjoyed the night too because they were allowed to remain awake till midnight to welcome the new year with a traditional cake cutting. They extended their bedtime to an hour more and we complied. They had their cousin to sleep over and were allowed screen time without any nagging.
So, you see, my husband and I can be fun parents too.
All of us have been wishing one another the amplest amount of happiness in the last few days. But what does happiness mean, exactly? Does it have an absolute meaning?
If I had to answer, I’d say that happiness has a different meaning for each person. It can hold a different meaning in different situations for the same person.
For a student, happiness is being prepared to take their exams. For a child, happiness is an extra hour of play, while for his parents, getting an extra hour of sleep is happiness.
And for a writer, nothing can bring more happiness than finishing their write-up before their deadline.
In short, it is up to us to find happiness. One cannot depend on others to bring them happiness. It’s important to see the positive in things and concentrate only on what gives you pleasure and what makes you happy.
Being a human is a task in itself. Sometimes we may find ourselves in situations that suffocate us from within. We find ourselves trapped around walls. As much as we want to end everything by jumping off a cliff, we cannot because there are walls everywhere and no cliffs.
What is important is that we learn how to find the door that leads us out of that trap of walls. Maintaining good mental health is most important, and being able to keep ourselves happy is most important.
As mortals, we will eventually face death when our time comes. Until then, it’s our duty to keep our body and mind healthy and happy. Try to do whatever that makes you happy. Self-care is necessary, and so is seeking help when required. Death is inevitable; hence, making the fullest out of the one life we have should be our objective.
