On March 20, we celebrated World Happiness Day and it reminded me of the time I moved to Kenya for my new job. My first stroll through the streets of Nairobi, I noticed a frown on faces of one too many people that passed me by. Then someone walked past and rubbed their shoulder on me and didn’t turn back or say sorry. I let that pass. But what stuck on my mind was the seemingly frustrated people that walked past me that Saturday.
I wondered, “Are these people coming from the same place?” But then days passed… months and I got used to these faces and maybe once in a while, I became a part of the frowned faces.
Traffic jam, increased cost of living, wicked landlords, indebtedness, frustrating boss, failing relationships and bad leadership were some of the answers I found as being reason for some people’s unhappiness in Nairobi.
In my home country Uganda, people have learnt to live life as is and create their own happiness and here is what often times happens. Ugandans are capable of dancing their problems away from 6pm on a Friday night all the way to Saturday 6am, non-stop. That probably explains why there are clubs on almost every street in Kampala and fewer seats in a Ugandan club. But this is just one of the ways some of them relieve their stress from all sorts of frustrations.
Back to Kenya my second home…what makes you happy? Going shopping, dancing, supporting your favourite sport, cooking, having house parties, calling the people who matter to you most, visiting friends and family, playing your favourite song all day as you work…. It is always important to take time and make yourself happy. We only live this life once and who said there was a perfect life?
I learned from my father when growing up that “being less judgmental to oneself helps improve people’s moods and allows you to think about your own happiness”.
Yes, I agree with whoever said work hard and party hard. I also second the adage that goes, “work without play makes Jack a dull boy”. And in fact, God, too, loves a cheerful heart. I ask again, how happy are you?
If it means you taking a bus to an unknown destination to have some alone time…do it if at the end of it all you will return happier. God bless Pharell Williams for the hit song Happy… this jam has been stuck on replay. Actually, it’s my new ringtone and my favourite line is, “Clap along if you know what happiness is to you, because I’m happy.”
Twitter: @JoyDoreenBiira
jbiira@standardmedia.co.ke