Dear Mum...♥: Happiness and Meaningfulness

Dear Mum,

I just got back from the dentist today. Did a routine check and clean. I think this time around the dentist was very thorough, because last time he was in such a hurry he did not explain anything to me or even missed a few spots when he was cleaning. I'm so glad my teeth are not too sensitive, I remember you said you had to get needles all over to numb your whole mouth just to get your teeth cleaned. You couldn't handle the sensitivity of what the drill was doing :(

I just joined Medibank last week and thanks to Dad he was able to leeway into claiming the extras immediately so today, I went on the Medibank website to claim back 70% from the goddamn dental bill. So freaking expensive I tell you.

But the thing was, I did some voodoo shenanigans on the site and instead of getting back 70% of $200 I only got $26.50! I was thinking to myself, how in the world did that happen?! I had no hesitation in calling up Medibank to resolve the issue. They told me about the item numbers and I had to list all the numbers on the receipt to claim back the amounts. Such a hassle. But the lady was so nice she went through the whole procedure with me so next time I could do it properly.

I read on The Age an article about Happiness Vs Meaningfulness.

"Happiness seems intertwined with the benefits one receives from others. Meaningfulness is instead associated with the benefits that others receive from the self".

I believe it is debatable. Some people find the happiness in helping others. It gives them a sense of satisfaction and somewhat- power. But those two phrases do come under meaningfulness. But meaningfulness is not a feeling, it's our conscious mind telling us what are the right and wrong- morals and beliefs and the decisions we make that affect it. It is said that having a meaningful but unhappy life is more admirable than a happy but meaningless one. And then the author went on to compare a happy lifestyle to the lives of animals. They hunt, eat and be satisfied with what they have. That's a bit off.

Humans cannot be compared to animals. Humans are very intelligent beings who can create their own lives and success whether it be a happy or meaningful one. In some ways I can relate to having an unhappy yet meaningful life. Since mum, you're not here anymore I am still just floating. I don't know where my life will go, I see no sense of direction and even though on the outside, I seem like I've got everything in the bag, it is not that way. All I am doing is just to continue living. Living for my dad and brothers. It would be meaningless if it weren't for my three big men in the house.