“In themselves the days of our years are seventy years; and if because of special mightiness they are eighty years”. That is a line from the Book of Psalms. Current statistics show that not many people are even reaching this age. The life expectancy in Ghana is 56, for the USA it is 77.9, the UK 67.2, Japan 82.5, Brazil 72.4, Russia 67.8, and China 73.1. Truthfully, the life of mankind is just like a flower, bright in the morning and withered by night.
With such a short life time, I have come to learn and believe that it is not worth spending our lives being sad. Indeed there will be moments of sadness – I was sad and cried when I lost my mother – but focusing on the sad event after its initial impact is definitely not a wise way to spend the relatively few years in which we have to live.
I have come to learn that our problems are of two kinds; those we can do something about, and those we cannot do anything about. For the former, once we have done all that we can about it, if the situation does not change, then we just have to move on. We should not trouble ourselves trying to solve what we clearly can’t – life is too short to spend it being sad. We might just have to learn to live with the problem as it is.
How you feel impacts on how you outwardly interact with others. When you are sad, you are not the best of company for others, as you will end up spreading the sadness – which is not a gift anyone wants. Gradually, people will not want to be with you, as you are no fun to be around.
Thus far in my life, I have seen people with serious illnesses who, despite their situations, focus on the bright side of life and find joy in their lives. I have seen poor people appreciating and enjoying life more than the rich, as they focus on the good things in life which come for free – indeed, life is too short to spend it being sad.
So if you are still feeling sad about an incident beyond its “normal” span, get up, take a shower, put on that outfit you love, dash on some of your favourite perfume, and get yourself into the groove – for life is too short to be sad.
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