IN SEARCH OF
HAPPINESS
The whole world is seeking happiness. Who does not want to be happy?
Different things make different people happy, but ultimately while we all may be seeking different things, the final goal of humanity seems to be “HAPPINESS”.
What is Happiness? While the question is very simple, the answer is profound. Though the question is one, the answers are many. This is because happiness is different for different people!
Happiness is a state of mind, expressing itself with emotions of cheer, joy, and excitement. It is a feeling that makes one’s heart dance and eyes twinkle. A happy person smiles just like an unhappy person shows sorrow in his face. So, while different people define their happiness in different words, the emotion that is born in all is the same. It is a strong feeling of joy, pleasure, contentment, and fulfillment.
Everybody wants to be happy. But how does one become happy? While different things create happiness, most of it is fulfilling of an expectation. A millionaire could be happy making his next million. A teacher may find happiness in the examination results of the students. A singer is joyous when the audience applauds. Politicians become happy when they win an election. While there are different reasons to be happy for different people, it is mostly unfulfilled expectations that lead to misery.
As kids, simple things make us happy – a ball or a doll. But as we grow up, our idea of happiness becomes more complicated. We seek pleasures, achievement, romance, and most importantly money and security.
People generally think that money is the key source of happiness, and hence, they chase money. They do anything and everything possible to make money because they believe that “Money = Happiness”.
I was no different. At the age of 16, I joined my father’s business – wanting to be successful, an achiever. I dreamt that this would make me truly happy.
Whatever I touched turned to gold. As a teenager, I started with an advertising business, and from the profits, I bought my first car. What a joy! It gave me a kick that pushed me on. This was just the beginning of my success story. My achievement lasted years, each surpassing my previous success – taking me from one peak of pleasure to another! Success became a passion, just as making money was my obsession.
But people don’t stop at success. First, we fulfill our need, and next, greed takes over. Then, we yearn for more success, more money, and more happiness. It doesn’t matter whether it comes from fair or foul means. To one on such a journey, nothing else matters.
I too didn’t stop. First, it was Kids Kemp, which was my first retail store, then Big Kids Kemp, and finally Kemp Fort. The exhilaration that came from success and achievement made me work 18 hours a day and 7 days a week, and yet I felt that I was not working at all. It was just fun!
Yes! When success pushes you forward, you forget everything else. The joy, the pleasure, and the achievement are enough to power you forward unconditionally. In that pursuit for excellence, you forget everything else, except the achievement, success, and joy you get from your victories.
Everything I did, gave me joy. The marketing was a big success, and it drew crowds that the retailing industry had never seen before. This gave me tremendous confidence. The sales and profits created success that gave me happiness – the heights of which I had never experienced.
I thought I was happy, truly happy! My achievement and my success were my happiness. I couldn’t see further.
When people get intoxicated with wealth, they even let go of their health. Such is the tragedy of the world.
Success creates more success, and it makes one feel that they are becoming happier each day. Seeing one’s bank balance grow or watching one’s assets swell can be truly satisfying when one is on this journey of happiness – a journey of achievement where the peak is the sky, which has no limit.
I too was one of them, going from achievement to achievement and enjoying the joy of success. My success made me famous. The media coverage was a big high. For the first time, I was recognized by the city, the country. That was a great feeling.
It made me truly happy – so happy that it kept me going for 25 years, seeking pleasures that came with success and achievement. To me, that was life – the way to be happy!
I travelled to the West and brought western concepts to India. Innovative retail entertainment clicked, and I bubbled with joy as the cash in my bank over flowed. I had never dreamtof this kind of money. I had never imagined that I would become so rich. It gave me immense pleasure to buy a new car, and I cannot express the joy that comes from driving a Mercedes or travelling in a Limousine or zooming in a Sera with doors that opened into the sky. The attention that I received lifted my ego. I felt truly great as I revelled in the success that I had created.
People become happier as they become more famous. Such is ego. It lights the pride that gets attention from all over the world. Sometimes it might make us arrogant, but how does it matter? As long as we are happy, who cares?
While my achievement journey got me immense pleasure, I realized that it was not true happiness…. It was all about pleasure that came from success and achievement.
Most of the world also think that “Happiness = Success and Achievement”. Little does this majority know that after all, this is just the first peak of happiness!