Importance of gratitude for a happier life ...

I am a 24 years old guy working as a software engineer in an infancy stage startup in Hyderabad, India. I moved to Hyderabad 20 months back right after my graduation from an Indian Institute of Technolgy.

I started with a take-home of "X k" INR in June 2017 and after switching my job during this time I am now getting "Y k" INR credited to my account every month. Back in the final year of college when I didn’t have any job in hand and when the chances of I getting placed looked minuscule, I was even applying to jobs that were paying around "X/2 k" INR monthly and that too very happily. I didn’t want more than that for me or maybe I thought I am worth that much only but that is some other side of the story and I am way ahead of that state :). Comparing to that figure what I am making now looks decent to me at the moment. By the way, the current monthly amount is considered really good as per the Indian standards of living.

But still, there are times when I realize I am not happy and I feel that I just don’t make any money. Actually, I have been reading lots of answers to this very question and every time someone declared their salary is more than 1 Lac INR per month, I felt jealous, under accomplished and sad at the same time. Definitely, I was unhappy. I am always hunting for business ideas which could make me a millionaire someday which I believe is a good thing but then the comparison of my finances with others’ and inadequate gratitude for what I have with me starts killing me at times.

I was in this state of mind till last Friday evening. That evening I left office at around 6:45 PM and booked a Rapido bike (similar to Uber moto and Ola bike) to get back home. The fare was just 30.94 INR for ~5 km of ride that would take around half an hour. As the guy arrived and I hopped on the bike, the rider asked for the fare that will be paid to him at the end of the ride. He looked as if he will be getting some good amount or maybe he already had an idea about it and just wanted to confirm.

During that ride, we got stuck in the jam. Somewhere I was feeling bad for that guy. I was thinking that too much of petrol is getting wasted too that will be paid out of his pocket and was concerned about how much will he get at the end of this ride.

As the ride ended, 30.94 INR got deducted from my wallet and we were about to part that guy said: “Thank You, Sir”. He had a bit of a happy look on his face. I was still thinking how will that guy live if he makes just this much money so I gave him extra 30 INR that I got in my pocket as change, thinking that it may compensate for the extra fuel that got burnt in the traffic jam.

After that incident, I realized it is not the figure that makes you happy because no matter how high you rise when you look up there will always be people above you. That stair never ends but it sure has resting points where you could stop, take a pause in the climb and have a look at the view from the level you are currently and yeah keeping a smile at the face is important.

Now I feel happier about my salary and about everything that I have in my life. Sure I want to achieve tons of things and statuses that I don’t have at the moment that includes wealth and what not, but that no longer stops me from being happier about what I have at the moment and who I am as a whole.