About a week ago, I was having a terrible day so I asked this question on my Whatsapp status and the answers were pretty typical. Everyone felt the money would be the perfect thing to bring them happiness.

I didn't have the answer to it but if I had to think about it, I don't think money would have been my preferred answer. It just seems too easy and too predictable.

A lot of things make me happy. I'm a person who derives joy from situations rather than things. What's an account filled with money when there's no one to share it with?

I've found happiness in some of the simplest things that honestly, I don't think money can buy.

A couple of year's ago, maybe 6 years ago, I found happiness in my nephew. He was the first baby I had ever had to myself more or less. I bonded with him so well that everyone thought I was his mother.

He came at a time when I needed a distraction. There was depression from school and my then toxic relationship. He was so little yet he brought so much love to my heart at the time.

That was a time I knew I was happy because nothing else mattered. After that, I guess the next time I recall knowing I was happy was about 3 years after that.

During my finals at the University, I found happiness in myself. That was something I never anticipated would feel liberating.

After getting out of that toxic relationship, I became a lot more self-aware and thanks to my friends, my self-awareness came with self-love. I fell deeply in love with myself and it brought me an incredible amount of happiness.

After that time, I found happiness in different circumstances. In people, places like a hill I climbed at Plateau state, situations like my brother getting married and other random things like being alive to be able to write this.

So, what makes me happy?

I guess life itself makes me happy. I can't think about the good without thinking about the bad times when I didn't expect to have these good times. Then I think about the bad and I remember when everything was perfect.

I learned to take life as it comes. Whatever trial comes, I face it and I move on. I feel the pain, I feel the joy and I just keep going.

Money is important. But I've never had a lot of it to believe it has enough power to give me the amount of happiness I've had in my short lifetime.

The smile on my nephew's face when he was just 3 months old wasn't a result of how much money I had in my account. It was out of undiluted affection.

I guess maybe my mind isn't developed enough to look beyond my current reality. Who knows, I might change my mind shortly.

Thanks for reading!