Got the following as a forward mail from one of my friend..Mr. Shanmuganathan. Thought to put it in the blog for others to read it.
Yesterday, I was driving, and the FM radio
went off for few seconds. I thought, I should have an iPod. Then suddenly I
realized that I have not used my iPod in last 6 months. And then, more things,
Handy cam in last 2 years, Digital Camera in last 2 months, DVD player in last 1
month and many more. Now I can say that I bought that Handy cam just out of
impulse, I have used it twice only in last 4 years.
So,
what's wrong and where? When I look at myself or my friends I can see it
everywhere. We are not happy with what we have but all are stressed and not
happy for the things we don't have. You have a Santro, but you want City; You
have a City, but you want Skoda. Just after buying a new phone, we need another
one. Better laptop, bigger TV, faster car, bigger house, more money, .I mean,
these examples are endless. The point is, does it actually worth? Do we ever
think if we actually need those things before we want them?
After this, I was forced to think what I
need and what I don't. May be I didn't need this Handy cam or the iPod or that
DVD player. When I see my father back at home. He has a simple BPL colour TV, he
doesn't need 32" Sony LCD wall mount. He has a cell phone worth Rs 2,500.
Whenever I ask him to change the phone, he always says, "Its a phone, I need
this just for calls."
And believe me; he is much happier in life
than me with those limited resources and simple gadgets. The very basic reason
why he is happy with so little is that he doesn't want things in life to make it
luxurious, but he wants only those things which are making his life easier. It's
a very fine line between these two, but after looking my father's life style
closely, I got the point. He needs a cell phone but not the iPhone. He needs a
TV but not the 32" plasma. He needs a car but not an expensive one.
Initially I had lot of questions.
I
am earning good, still I am not happy,...why ?
I
have all luxuries, still I am stressed.... ....... why ?
I
had a great weekend, still I am feeling tired...... why?
I met lot of people, I thought over it again
and again, I still don't know if I got the answers, but certainly figured out
few things. I realize that one thing which is keeping me stressed is the "stay
connected" syndrome. I realized that, at home also I am logged in on messengers,
checking mails, using social networks, and on the top of that, the windows
mobile is not letting me disconnected. On the weekend itself, trying to avoid
unwanted calls, and that is keeping my mind always full of stress. I realized
that I am spending far lesser money than what I earn, even then I am always
worried about money and more money. I realized that I am saving enough money I
would ever need, whenever needed. Still I am stressed about job and salary and
spends.
May be, many people will call this approach
"not progressive attitude", but I want my life back. Ultimately it's a single
life, a day gone is a day gone. I believe if I am not happy tonight, I'll never
be happy tomorrow morning. I finally realized that meeting friends, spending
quality time with your loved one's; spending time with yourself is the most
important thing.
If on Sunday you are alone and you don't
have anybody to talk with, then all that luxuries life, all that money is
wasted. May be cutting down your requirements, re-calculating your future goal
in the light of today's happiness is a worthwhile thing to do. May be selling
off your Santro and buying Honda City on EMIs is not a good idea. I believe
putting your happiness ahead of money is the choice we need to make.
I
think, a lot can be said and done but what we need the most is re-evaluation of
the value of happiness and time we are giving to our life and people associated
with it.
Think
about it.
