On happiness
Someday, I’ll write about living abroad as a South African, but today is not the day to unpack that.
I did, however, have the urge to put pen to paper and write down some realisations I’ve had around happiness.
Simply put, we were happier whilst living in South Africa. Don't get me wrong, we found happiness in Europe too, but our happiness in South Africa was (for lack of a better way to express this) rooted within.
We were happier, because the people are happier. They have to be. They have less, so they find their happiness within themselves and in their community and the purity of that happiness — it’s contagious.
In South Africa, life revolves around community more naturally. The resilience and strength of character of the South African people is a tricky one to express in words, but it translates to an openness and a kindness that I have yet to find in Continental Europe.
We were happier. It's not revisionist history. We were happier, because the general population is happier, because they have less.
Which, in itself, is simultaneously beautiful and contorted.