I know the title looks a bit vague but trust me, it is not. All my experiences until this age, I often found myself asking this same question, “What else do we need when we really don’t need anything else?”. I mean, if you look at this pic, how do these people live their life? I cannot even imagine the day-to-day challenges these people must endure to be satisfactorily able to sleep in these makeshift homes at night. The feeling becomes more assertive when I am aware that the heavy downpour swept the lives of even mighty ones a few days ago in India. Yet, these people feel like another day in the park. Yes, we need more, and every time we think about competition and how to be ahead of ourselves, next job, next promotion, next vacation, next iPhone, yeah, an iPhone is also among the critical discussion topics around me. Still, when I notice something like this, I feel I already have enough, and my heart becomes full of gratitude towards the almighty that has given me a comfortable bed, a roof, ample food, clothes, foot wears drinking water. Isn’t it the case I question myself, what else do I need when I don’t need anything else?
We want to be better than yesterday, but at what cost? Is it crucial to abuse resources, take health for granted, take family, and relationships for granted, no right? Learning can become fun, and the process of living and gaining experience can become insightful if we keep reminding ourselves that we already have the most crucial components that life needs and rest is just a part of the process. Indeed gaining excellence and contributing to society is one thing we consider a noble act. Still, if we sit and think about life, we have not received any instruction manual that says, If you didn’t do this, then your life will be useless, or if you achieved that, you have reached your life purpose. If we all think hard, life doesn’t come with any meaning. The only reasonable goal is to use whatever time we have to remain happy and to gain or carry out activities that make us happy without guilt.
People who live in the cold want some sunshine. People who live in a hot desert want some rain. People living in the war zone need some peace. You see, the thing we want contrasts with what we have, but no one in this world wants some sadness when they are happy. A happy person wants to stay like this forever and even try their best for more happiness, and that urge is so complex that once in a rat race, they forget themselves completely and start spending more time remaining unhappy. What do they need? Nothing, but leaving the urge and thinking about the happiness they currently carry. Yes, the next promotion, next job, next relationship, everything is essential, but are they so crucial that you spend days, months, or years just waiting for that moment? Didn’t you achieve something similar in the past? Didn’t you notice that this same urge, although making you more successful, leaves you more exhausted in the end? Did you see you passed your teens ten years ago and are still trying to grab that elusive attention that you think will make you happy?
No, dear, no one is sitting here, taking notes of your struggle. No one is going to write poems about your heroics. You, I, and these people in pic carry the same desire to be happy. Will you wait a moment to look at this picture and think about what you already have? It is still a dream for many, and what you are dreaming to have, some people have it already, and they are not happy either. What else do you need to be satisfied? Are you waiting for that ONE moment? What will happen after that? Will there be something important that will make you eat, sleep and breathe differently? Your happiness is still inside you, and it’s like we all have forgotten the art of remaining happy, no matter what. Until our stomach is full, till we can talk to our near and dear ones, till we can sleep, there is nothing to worry about, and if there is still something you want to be worried about, then think about the process, live the experience, and enjoy this life, which is all the more critical.
Think about this question: What else do you need to be happy? If there is something that you need, then start pursuing it, and be pleased that you have begun the process of reaching your goal. If you cannot follow it somehow, you are not supposed to be worried. Some things like our Very own Breathe we cannot control. What would have happened if we had to be concerned about filling our lungs with air? So, it is good that many things are not in our control.
What else do you need?
Yash Pal Singh
Software Engineer, Ph.D. Dropout, Carrying so many unfulfilled dreams, still trying to maintain a peaceful relation with mother nature.