A day or two after my birthday, I felt a wave of sadness wash over me. In all honesty, I had nothing to be sad about. Granted there could've easily been something to be sad about at the time and I could have found it had I dug deeper but the truth is, even the happiest person on earth can easily find an aspect of their life to be sad about. So the point I am trying to make is that I am positive that what I was going through was simply random and not tied to anything going on in my life. When I got home I was feeling a lot better, and that's when it dawned on me that I hadn't felt sad (or at least that sad) in over a year.
A funny thing happened after that realisation for I found myself a little grateful for that episode. Granted that could've been because I am a glass-half-full kind of person but it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I needed that to realise and appreciate that I had been happy all this time. It's twisted I know but if happiness is all you have felt then your happiness becomes your norm and consequently turns to neutrality. This reminds me of the scene in How I Met Your Mother where Barney wanted to make all nights legendary and Ted explained to him that if you make all nights legendary, then no nights are legendary.
I remember the first time I made myself an omelette au fromage. I am not sure if it was the simplicity of the recipe that lowered my expectations but when I first had that first bite I could not believe that that mouth-watering dish came out of my very own early 90's style kitchen. It was so good I had it for brunch regularly for the next 3 weeks, and in that period, something funny happened. It didn't taste as amazing anymore. Don't get me wrong it was still good, but it wasn't the same, and I have envied anyone who had the pleasure of tasting it for the first time and those I have served it to sporadically. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that maybe I would have been able to preserve the utility I got from the dish by having a classic breakfast with baked beans, mushrooms, or eggs.
Bringing it back to the point I was making, we live through some of life's greatest emotions, but the pleasure passes us by because these emotions have been such a regular part of our lives we barely notice them. This is where the gift of negative emotions comes in, for it is because of sorrow we appreciate joy. We appreciate health because of illness, triumph because of defeat, success because of failure, courage because of fear, calmness because of anger, affluence because of poverty, fun because of boredom, flavour because of tastelessness, acceptance because of rejection, companionship because of loneliness, ease because of difficulty, pleasure because of pain, and many more.
This reminds me of that scene in Pixar's Inside Out where Joy finally realised that one of Riley's happy memories came as a result of her sadness after losing the hockey game. This particular scene reminded me of the time got a second class pass in class 7 due to a 2 in Sesotho. I remember crying in my bedroom and my mom coming to console me at a time I thought she would be disappointed. The funny thing is I barely remember any of the awards I received in class 7 (which were accompanied by happy memories of course), but I remember the events of that fateful day in 2005 when I felt at my lowest. I am convinced that for the first time after that incident, I had a better appreciation of academic excellence.
In conclusion, I am not saying that we need to struggle for us to enjoy life, because God knows I hate the concept of romanticising suffering. I am just saying when that negative emotion comes, feel it and deal with it in your unique way. Once you are done, smile a little and view the incident as life's way of reminding you of the joys it has blessed you with.