Monday, 4th November 2024
What is happiness?
Today is a holiday in Japan.
Yesterday was Culture Day, which was a public holiday.
Today is a substitute holiday.
There is a kind of rule that when a Sunday and a public holiday coincide, the day after is a holiday.
Last night, I suddenly felt tired and sluggish and went to bed.
It was just like when you start catching a cold.
When I woke up in the morning, my body ached all over, but that was probably because I had slept for 11 hours.
My husband cooked breakfast, so after eating it and getting dressed, I was tired but able to move.
I closed the household accounts for October.
I was also able to book the November accounts.
While looking at the household accounts, I discussed with my husband about the future of our lives.
At the beginning of the discussion, we discussed how we could reduce our spending.
Stresses build up, we spend money to buy something, and for a brief moment we feel happy and satisfied with it.
The cycle goes on and on, and your spending goes up more than it should.
I think about what my English teacher of three years said.
If you buy a new iPhone, how long will that happiness last?
It's better to find happiness that doesn't depend on things.
That's what the teacher told me.
It's like sweets.
The sweets you buy are gone in a flash when you eat them.
I was happy while I was eating it, but it was difficult for me to be satisfied with it.
I stop buying sweets because I eat too much.
When I buy a book, I feel like I'm smarter the moment I buy it.
Even though I haven't read it yet.
That's how I accumulated the books I haven't read.
Next time I want a book, I wonder if I can borrow it from the library.
I am going to talk to my counsellor about how I can stop relieving my stress by shopping.
This problem has deep roots for me.
I believe that if I could be happy with other things, I would stop shopping.
Is that a naive estimate?
When I started this website, some 20 years ago, a friend once told me.
A struggle is something we all have to deal with.
He didn't say anything more, but I think he meant to say, in essence, that what you're doing is not interesting.
That's a right thing to say.
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