By Konstantina Kerpinioti,
If you take a look at the world around you, you will see sad faces and melancholic people. The truth is that the times we are going through are characterized by a difficult reality, as the conditions of life have become more complicated than ever, a fact that makes tomorrow uncertain. However, people’s perception of things and the extremely high demands they have on themselves have also contributed significantly to shaping this very negative climate. Therefore, in this article, I will analyze the most important reasons that have led many people to have a pessimistic attitude towards life.
To begin with, as we probably know, the war in Ukraine is a recent event that has marked humanity in many ways. Ukrainians see their country being bombed and occupied by Russians and their soldiers dying on the battlefield. Some choose to leave their country on the altar of survival, whereas others decide to stay at the risk of suffering any form of Russian torture and even losing their lives. In general, the situation in Ukraine is inhumane. Nevertheless, this war has affected other countries as well in a different way. Electricity prices have quadrupled and prices for basic products on the market have risen sharply. Consequently, many people with financial problems who cannot afford are forced to be deprived even more than before. Some still live in fear that they will no longer be able to access certain provisions. Beyond those problems, there is a constant worry about the expansion of the war in Ukraine and more precisely a “World War III”. The saddest thing about war is that civilians and innocent people on both sides always pay the price on the altar of political interests.
Another factor that has contributed to the pessimistic climate that characterizes modern society is the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has changed our lives dramatically over the past two years. People no longer hug as often as before and have generally distanced themselves. Let us also not forget that there was a great period of quarantine and, therefore, very intense loneliness and depression. Many individuals lost their job and many businesses closed. The key line is that people do not feel as safe as they used to before COVID-19. Now there is constant anxiety and insecurity.
Nevertheless, I strongly believe that the main reason that makes mankind unhappy has to do with people and their perception and dealing with things. To be more specific, most people focus more on how to achieve huge things and being rich or making a lot of money, instead of being happy. In other words, they prefer spending more time on huge lucrative, and complicated projects, than enjoying the small and essential moments of life. In case they do not manage to meet their extremely high expectations, they fall into depression. And this is due to the fact that humanity has not figured out the meaning of life.
So, what can we do in order to become happy? What we definitely need to do is spend time with ourselves and think about what kind of life we would like to have. First of all, what is a basic condition for our happiness is the existence of a peaceful climate. In a world without wars and worries in our lives, we can be calmer and make dreams for the future. At the same time, we must stop paying attention to the surface and focus on the essential things in life. Having a sufficient amount of money is certainly necessary for our survival, but simultaneously it allows us to have access to more goods and activities. Nevertheless, we do not need to strive to make a lot of money, because being rich does not necessarily bring happiness. On the contrary, working long hours with the goal of earning a lot of money deprives you of time with your loved ones, rest, peace of mind, and not only that. Life is too short for not doing what we want, for not spending our time as we wish. Whoever believes that becoming something “huge” will bring happiness is false. The point is to love ourselves as we are, to not be compared with others, and enjoy having a life full of experiences!
Should we realize that we are powerful and be more active, we can make our world a better place for living. As long as we are inactive, one thing is for certain; that we will manage nothing at all…
