A few days ago, I came across an article that read, Kenyans rank as some of the unhappiest people in the world. It sounded funny but then I started questioning, what really makes me happy?
I love hanging out with my friends and laugh for hours on end. I love playing golf. I love my wine. I love taking long drives and enjoying the scenery. I love new experiences and all these make me happy.
Or do they?
Some things we do to be happy cost us money, energy and inconvenience. Yes, it costs money to go out and enjoy that wine with friends. On your way there, you will encounter rude people, endless traffic and all the things that may annoy you.
When you want to take a drive out of town, you will encounter reckless drivers who run you off the road. You will not enjoy the drive anymore.
Why does it cost so much to be happy around here? Are these really things that make me happy?
I then came to the realization that I get happier by making people happy. I love creating things that fill a gap in society. One thing I realized is that the creation of something from the raw material to an end product sets this very satisfying feeling in me.
I started creating things with my hand when I was young. My aunt used to buy bales of second hand shawls. She would remain with a few scarfs that did not sell well. My sister and I would take these ones and iron them, then sell to passers-by outside our gate.
We would end up with Ksh 100 a day. We were the queens of our estate. We commanded a lot of respect. At 10 years old, we would sponsor the kids in the estate. Sweets, biscuits a ride at the fan fare. We were filthy rich.
We went on and created more things for sale and my life was never the same again.
As a child, I was recreating stuff and then making sales. Now, as an adult I am creating products that customers can buy. This still gives me the same thrill it used to give me as a child.
Things are now more complicated than they were back then but there is still that great satisfaction of creating, from nothing to something. Then get people interested enough to buy.
One woman I admire is Lori Greiner, a judge at Shark Tank. Lori has created over 100 products. These products have over the years helped people work effectively, solve a need and basically improved the lives of people.
This, I discovered, is my happy.
What is your happy?
Kamaitha will be sharing with you #HerDiary every week! If you just can’t wait that long, you can follow her on Twitter @Kamaitha
