A Change in Perspective

by Rashi
(Alwar, India)

This is my real life experience of my quest for happiness and how I found it. I am a housewife with my family consisting of two daughters and husband living in a metropolitan city in India. Being the only daughter of my parents who were very well off, I had everything I needed. I was a happy go lucky teenager and always dreaming of an aristocratic life after a marriage full of happiness.

But after the sudden death of my father, my mother wanted me to get married soon and started searching for a suitable groom with a matching horoscope, a prerequisite before marriage in our caste as per the custom in India.

But she could not find one befitting our financial status and hence I had to marry a clerk employed in a small company, which was the only suitable alliance. He had a moderate income only and I was always in the habit of nagging him for everything.

We had a make-shift rented house and I used to scream at him telling him how miserable our life was without any fun, movies, pleasure trips and a luxurious lifestyle. He used to just keep quiet.

I was feeling that I was the most unlucky woman in this world, and I continued with my life resenting life for such a fate.

One day I took my younger daughter to her friend's birthday party. Even though a small house, it was well decorated and the food was ready and smelled delicious.

I couldn't have imagined but I was in for a big surprise. My daughter's mother had been paralyzed below the waist for the past 11 years after a tragic accident! She was doing most of the household jobs including cooking, laundry, bathing her baby, cleaning... all from the confines of her wheel chair and bearing all the pain... yet she kept on smiling and was very happy.

She even gave birth to a baby girl two years back! I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I asked her how she could be so happy after such a big set back in life.

Her reply changed my life... "How can I be unhappy? I could have died in that accident. In that case I would have parted with my husband and kids forever. So God is really great to have spared my life and now I am on top of the world. My physical pain and suffering are nothing compared to the happiness that I experience every moment with my family."

This incident was a real eye opener for me that made me realize how grateful I should be to God for giving me such a wonderful life with health, my loving husband and kids.

Thanks to that experience, today I am a happy housewife and mother, and I enjoying every moment of my life.