How do I define a meaningful life?
Succinctly put, living life on my terms. Taking decisions based on my volition, contentment and being a source of hope to the next person. All these I have achieved.
So am I living a meaningful life?
Of course I am
A picture of garri, milk, groundnut and sugar.
You know I have this saying that even if it’s garri I will pour water inside and eat it with joy in my father’s house because contentment is happiness and happiness is key to living a meaningful life.
A picture of garri soaked in water with groundnut and milk
You might be wondering why garri? Well, that is how I rank my level of contentment because eating garri soaked in water is considered the poorest form of feeding, but then the question is: Am I happy eating that garri? Is my mind at rest? Well, yes.
The thing is, no matter the condition or situation that I find myself in, I have resort to being happy.
When it comes to choosing a partner, I often hear some women say it’s better to cry in a Lamborghini than to cry inside keke napep (tricycle). Well, how about you don’t cry at all?
Why don't you be genuinely happy irrespective of wherever you find yourself without even trying to be happy?
Going forward….
Living a meaningful life for me is all about fulfillment, and it starts from self. It comes from within because one cannot achieve anything meaningful or have a positive impact on the society when their life is in turmoil.
Ever heard of the saying that you can’t give what you don’t have? How do you make meaning out of something that you are oblivious about?
I have this mental exercise that acts as a guide to living a meaningful life. Every so frequently, I do a mental evaluation of my life, I sit back relaxed and then take a trip down memory lane on all my activities, work, relationships, and family. One question I always ask myself after this trip down memory lane is, are you happy?
Are you happy with your job? Are you happy in your relationship? Are you happy with your family, your roles, and responsibilities? Are you happy with life generally?
I am a very opinionated person and, as such, I get exposed to troll a lot especially online on FB. These people will tell you the most ugly of things.
If you are not happy with your life, their attacks will eat you up from the inside because when you are unhappy, there’s this void inside of you that yearns to be filled and whatever you get yourself exposed to finds its way to that empty void.
It is for this reason, doing a mental evaluation of happiness in my life is paramount, I must be happy all round and I always check to be certain that I am happy and not struggling to be happy. I do this exercise with my daughter too.
I would ask her mama, are you happy? She’ll say yes. Sometimes, I go further to ask her are you sure? She’ll nod a yes and then smile.
Next, I’ll tell her, I want you to always be happy and if you ever get sad, don’t hesitate to talk to me about it, she’ll say ok mommy, and I’ll give her a hug and plenty of kisses.
I don’t know, but I feel my actions with my daughter impacts on her mental health positively, as I find her to be a jolly good fellow and always wants to get grudges off her chest.
Now back to me….
What do I do if during one of my mental evaluations, and I find out that I am not happy in one area of my life? What do I do when I discover that my life is tilting towards without meaning?
I check and dig through to find the root cause of the unhappiness I'm feeling.
If It’s my job and my boss is stressing me out, I’ll be ascertaining where the cause effect is coming from, what is my boss reacting to that is causing stress to me?
I'll do things differently and if it doesn’t work, I’ll resign. Same goes for my relationship and for family? We are always talking about our grievances and displeasure and helping each other through it.
Thus, my family becomes my peace and that is one thing that helps in my journey to living a meaningful life.
I am coming from love, and the thought that I always have a family to fall back on when it gets tough is therapeutic for me.
All images are mine
Above is my response to the ladies of hive Anniversary prompt #200. A big congratulations to the group on this milestone 👏🏿🎉.