Living modestly and staying content has lessened my worries

As much as we want to be superheroes to strangers, family, and friends, we remain constrained either by limited resources or external factors to live and operate within the context of our resources. I remember wishing to grow up into adulthood, but now that I am at that stage, I wish to be a baby once again, receiving all the care, love, and attention from family. Yet again, I have wished to have some amount of wealth, but the overwhelming responsibilities have only made me want more wealth than I once desired. To what end will I truly experience satisfaction? Or when would I be free of the problems and challenges of life? Rather than being tossed through life without a direction, I have applied a lifestyle that has helped me and, hopefully, will guide me through for a long period of time.

Rather than being spontaneous to attack and solve all of life's challenges, I have imbibed an attitude to take a pause, analyze the problem, and make a decision as to the best approach to take. I have realized that life is busy and will throw many things at us almost at the same time, which oftentimes may destabilize us and make us fret. When we are in such a situation, we are likely to make rash decisions because of blurred perceptions or evaluations. This also means that I take life slowly and work with my own timing. This saves me a whole lot of trouble when hit from many sides. I have realized that I do not have to respond to everything thrown at me. In fact, not doing anything in itself is something!

I have been applauded severally for being the man of the show, always coming to the rescue, and a dumping ground for all manners of duties. Surely, it feels good to be the man of the moment, but I have realized that such glory comes with lots of weighing. First, I had to revisit the scoreboard of my roles at work and understand fully what my roles and responsibilities were. Of course, it included assignments from my superior as deemed fit. However, there were assignments that got to my table as a result of my colleagues' refusal to do their part, and because I wanted the work to go smoothly, I ended up doing such tasks. When I realized my approach to work only made my colleagues lazier and lackadaisical, I opted to let it be. My colleagues were not particularly happy with the new me, and they did not hesitate to voice their observations. What do I care? I let everyone (including myself) take the blame when such occasions arise. Thankfully, my colleagues have improved and know better than to approach me with some type of work.

Oh, I'm that kind of guy who can price a shoe from ₦2, 000 to ₦200. I have actually done that before, and the kind of look the seller gave me convinced me that I had hit him in an angry spot and I needed to take a walk, which I respected myself and did. As much as I want sellers to make profits, I don't want to be exhorted or fall victim to someone's untamed desire for oversized profits. I always check the prices of items I want to purchase, either by making inquiries from people who know about them or by going online to find out. Such an attitude gives me a background price, which helps me in my bargaining for times to buy. Yet again, I try to look for cheaper items that have significant quality. This is not being miserly, but being economical. Getting items with reasonable durability and quality at an affordable price often gives me an extra fund to purchase other items I would probably be short of. And who says expensive translates to being quality? Probably this is why I don't want people to spend much on buying me gifts. They often go the extra mile, not minding the cost.

This can be difficult when the individual asking has some degree of relationship with me. Other than my immediate family that I can go all out for, others are put on extreme screening even when I have an abundance of resources in need. So, I have a benchmark for how much I can loan people. I have categorized everyone based on my relationship with them and the antecedent history of past transactions. Nobody can frustrate me with funds that are not even enough for me.

This is one aspect I am seriously working on. I want to save and invest, but the troubles of each day are enormous enough to drown out the living me. Nonetheless, I make room for investments such as the goats I bought recently and the farm that I am into. If the funds I channeled into them are not used for that purpose, I'll probably have no good record of what I spent the money on. This is one of my modes of survival, especially in periods when nothing seems forthcoming.

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I don't have to own big gadgets or have huge possessions to display to be worth a goldmine. I have learned to live simply. In fact, most people with significant wealth who have earned it genuinely do not speak for themselves. Living modestly has taught me to be content with what I get out of life. I am not in a race with anyone but myself, and I am the sole determinant of how fast or slow I am moving.

Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.