As a little girl, I remember being absolutely crazy about Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Two of my favourite songs from that movie where Under the Sea and Part of your World – ironically both songs have a strong theme about the grass being greener on the other side. Picture this - Ariel sitting on a rock under the sea having daydreams of what life would be like if she were human? She was convinced that life would be better, something she later discovered was not necessarily so. I would be the first one to admit that I am a dreamer and like Ariel, I used to (and still do sometimes) have a tendency of dreaming and obsessing over things. I used to constantly day dream and obsess over things convinced that it would be better say, to have what someone has. I learned the hard way when fervent prayers for some of these things came to pass. Once I realised the pitfalls of such prayers, I stopped making them. As they say, one man’s meat is another’s poison, just because it working well for Jane doesn’t mean it will work for me. We are all unique, accepting that I learned, makes life a notch easier.
Yes, I believe that it is possible that the grass could be indeed greener on the other side but one of the questions I frequently ask my myself these days is – is it my kind of green? A wise woman once told me that one of the best recipes to happiness is to embrace who you are and be the best version of yourself. She was onto something. I have struggled many times about embracing who I am and where I am at on my way to where I am going. Maybe if I got married, maybe if I had children, maybe if I got a better job, maybe if … the list is endless but will it ever be enough? How much better is it really going to be if those things come to pass? Alas, it is like chasing a mirage. Getting to the seeming green side will never be enough because there will always be a greener looking side.
Contentment, trusting in God, faith and oh yes patience – please don’t start me on the subject this could be a whole post altogether J – are important ingredients to achieving sanity in this crazy world which is always telling us it is better to be like this, to have this and to do this. We are all different, have different purposes in life so back to my earlier assertion, maybe the question to ask is: is it my kind of green? As for me, I want to live a full life, I want my dreams to become a reality, but I want it to be to be in terms of it being my kind of green – a green that stems from trusting and walking with God.
