The Grass is Greener on the Other Side

The grass always seems greener on the other side. Doesn't it feel so?

Where you are right now in life, you always feel that someone out there probably has a better life than you.

That's perhaps the reason why people change jobs, migrate, get divorced, have children, move houses and more.

The greener grass syndrome can perhaps be accounted for because of the following:

1. We fail to see how green the grass is on our side.

2. There is perhaps more shit on the other side, and that is why it looks greener.


Failure to be Contented

We fail to be contented as human beings. We always want more and more. God gave Adam and Eve all the trees to eat from in the Garden of Eden. Yet, they chose to eat from the one tree out of ALL the tress that they were commanded not to eat from. The rest is history.

As a man, the failure to be contented can be due to many factors like peer pressure, ambition, wanting to look GOOD infront of others, and many more. Society places a lot of pressure on us and if parents or parent-in-laws are not understanding, they might place this pressure on you to "succeed" in life by getting a bigger house, nicer car and perhaps a better paying job.

Driven by these pressures, we fail to be contented with the little that we have and start to strive and focus our attention on the things that we do not have.

This is one of the reasons why the grass is always greener on the other side.

There is simply more fertiliser...

The reason why someone else has a higher paying job is perhaps because the job has a lot more stress, pressures and work that comes with it. This in turn results in companies willing to pay good money for people to fulfill the role.

So even though the grass is indeed greener, it simply comes along with a lot more fertiliser or should I say crudely, shit.

And with this greener grass comes the added responsibilities, the need to have your handphone on 24/7, the mindless churning of papers and reports, responding to emails during the weekends or simply working OT. There are sacrifices to be made and we all must be aware of it.

The Lesson

I guess the lesson is simple. We must learn to be content with what we have yet continue to strive to become better human beings. Knowing that with a bigger house probably comes greater stress and responsibility should make us think twice before jumping at the next job offer or migrating to far away countries just to chase after some idealism.