Appreciate small or love it all

It is my first time writing in the emotions and feelings community, seeing the prompt for the month brought back some memories that I will love to share with the lessons attached.

Satisfaction is a habit many people don't possess, a lot of people have found themselves in big problems because they lack the habit of being satisfied in life. I grew up in an environment where dissatisfaction captured the soul of many youths. It all started with the idea of never settling for less in life but that wasn't the case. They were never contented with what they had and it lead them to things that they initially never wanted to settle with.

Source

There is a difference between appreciating what you have while working hard to get more and not being satisfied at all. We all indeed have dreams we are all running to fulfill and many have used these dreams as an excuse to let dissatisfaction consume them.

Every human who is not satisfied with what they have in life finds it hard to hold on to the little things they have for a long because those little things would have zero significance to them.

When I was a teenager, I did jobs that were too much for a boy of my age. The worse of them was working in a factory where concrete blocks are molded. The pay was terrible but I didn't have a choice because I had the intention of supporting my family since things weren't too well for us.

We usually travel to work in other states and return home on weekends.

After we get paid, I noticed the seniors would go out in the evening but I didn't know where they usually go and they usually return with this sad mood. They do lament and wished they never went but I didn't know where they usually go and I didn't ask them.

Things went like that for months and one day, I decided to follow them.

We got there that day and to my greatest surprise, it was a gambling shop. I didn't believe my eyes because the first thing that came to my mind was how do you gamble with the money you labored for when your chances of winning is zero.

No wonder they usually return angry, they must have been losing all this while with the hope of recovering their losses someday. Just because they aren't satisfied with the little they had, they were losing it all.

They tried dragging me into gambling but I always made them understand that I am contented with that little and it will go a long way for my family than losing it all again. In the end, they realized that they have lost a lot and by the time I quit the job, they were still stuck with it because not being satisfied keeps making them lose all they earned. There are days they won but they still weren't satisfied and ended up losing their winning.

I saved some money and at a point, my family was able to start a business from what we all saved from our different hustles. We started a snacks shop and it really helped us quit the jobs we were doing that were tearing us apart.

The shop helped us a lot and many times, they usually think I was earning aside from the job we were doing but I wasn't. Being satisfied is what helped me abstain from their way of life and I have always practiced a contented lifestyle ever since.

I always encourage people to be contented with whatever they have, it doesn't stop them from getting more but it would prevent them from losing more.