Just as man cannot live in isolation, we need one another to survive, and thus, we need to interact physically or at least virtually. And since we have different backgrounds and perspectives, men and even non-living things are bound to be stressors in our daily lives, and we must consciously make efforts to avert, or at least minimize, their impacts on our lives. My approach may sound cruel, but it works well for me.
Some things remain beyond our control, notwithstanding. We could identify some threats to our happiness, mostly as they relate to people around us. Without remorse, there are WhatsApp messages that I have consciously left unread, either by not opening the message at all or by marking it as unread on WhatsApp. There is no doubt that the current economic situation in Nigeria is unfair to most people, but I expect us to be understanding with one another. I have a particular friend that bombards me with needs almost every two weeks, and I had to take a pause, reflect, and revert to him about how inconvenient it is for me as well. And another asks me for airtime every now and then on the premise of not being paid a salary. These and many more have been identified as possible threats to my happiness, and I do not hesitate to take the next possible step, which is to avert or feign ignorance.
Once I am able to identify these potential threats to my happiness, I begin to avoid them like my life depends on them. And truly, what's life that is unhappy? My life truly depends on how happy I am. My conversations and even checking on people are less these days. Recently, I uploaded my WhatsApp status, which I do often, and someone replied to it with a request for a need. Then, I asked myself, if the person didn't see my status, would he approach me? As much as I want to be accessible to many, I have realized that withdrawing from many brings a lot of happiness. At least I can avoid threats to my happiness.
Another attitude I have developed recently is playing mute to threats to happiness. If you asked me a question that would likely infuriate or destabilize me, you're likely not to get any response except if I want to respond with sarcasm. I have learned to remain immune to threats and remind myself that the decision lies mostly with me.
Rare, but yeah, I prefer spending my leisure time off social media, mostly by watching movies. Sometimes, I could just log off from all reach and have a good sleep, mostly having my phone switched off or on silent notifications. But I need to do well with other activities such as taking evening walks, playing games with friends, and, more importantly, watching memes to bring out laughter.
Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.