Lifestyles

By Sarah Duley

What is lifestyle all about? What does it mean to you?

For some people it may be fashion, beauty, music and hobbies; the things that interest you, your personal ideals that make your world go round.

Perhaps you have a certain obsession, something you always feel the need to indulge in. Lifestyle could be seen as the key to your dreams and demonstrate what you want to make of yourself in this world. Your actions and thoughts, how you go about your daily life can be a direct representation of your lifestyle.

How many times did the words;”you” or “your” appear in that little speech?

Put it this way…a lot, just because that’s what our lifestyle is about. But should it be?

How many times do you think about yourself in one day? In one hour even? Just think about it.

We happily collapse in a comfortable chair after a hard day, relax and put our feet up. We gladly treat ourselves; to a box of chocolates in front of the television, to an extra cover in the coldest winter, to a drink whenever we need it, to a paracetamol to cure the slight headache.

Hardly sounds like being treated does it? But so many people don’t have the lifestyle to allow themselves these seemingly insignificant luxuries.

If we take Africa as an example, does anyone have time for indulging their every whim? Their lifestyle consists of work, pain, suffering. An endless list.

Could they be too caught up in the whirlwind of survival to think about themselves for long?

I could say they have nothing to take for granted, unlike us. But that wouldn’t be true; some things reside in the world simply because they were meant to be there, such as laughter, happiness, joy and romance. The world just would not be the same without them and even to the coldest places, where human life struggles to survive, they remain.

Even closer to home there is always someone worse off than you, always someone in need of a helping hand, a gentle lift, something to help them on their way. Could you give them the hand they need?

A spark of joy amongst a lifetime of hardship, that is where positive emotions are most appreciated. A deep appreciation for the smallest miracle must be inevitable for the seconds you are blessed with a feeling of total contentment, especially when the moments may only visit you occasionally.

Hope for the future and their children’s future may be what the world’s poorest people cling to, perhaps one day their lifestyle will not be so different from our own.

This looks like the perfect holiday destination. The best our general lifestyle can buy.

How much would this luxury cost us?

Carrying water for miles, no wells nearby, the water is dirty coming from a river where people and animals wash and drink from. The best their lifestyle can afford to give them.

How much would a supply of clean water cost us?

Maybe we should think more about the serious troubles of others, rather than our own petty annoyances.

Maybe we should think more about the difference between need and necessity.

Would you make the difference?