Little things and the big ones By Zeba Mariyam Khan

Because happiness was never supposed to be a big thing. We have been taught to notice what is big before we learn to notice what is beautiful.

The bigger achievements, the bigger dreams, the bigger houses, the bigger celebrations— the things that society has created and taught us to call successful, beautiful, and worth having. We keep looking at what is bigger, better, and more than what we already have.
And somewhere in between all of this, we forget to look at the little things. We have been taught to think of big things as better things.

When I was ranked in the second position, I was still happy, but I wanted more. I thought, I could have been better by coming to the first position. When I saw two people celebrating someone’s birthday with tiny gifts, small decorations, and a little celebration, I eventually thought there could have been a bigger group and a bigger celebration.

I had this bad habit of thinking that big things eventually mean better things, just like the people and society have taught me and put in my mind. And because of that, my thinking always just ran behind the bigger and important things while ignoring the small things that we already have. We look at others’ lives and think that “Happiness looks exactly like this only.” We look at their job, the salary, the money they earn, and a society who claims it to be the perfect income. We look at the expensive gifts, but we forget to look at ours. We automatically think their life is better and happier than ours. We completely ignore the little things that we own.

But what are we exactly running for? And what do we actually need? Or do we only think we want it because everybody is behind it? But have you ever thought or noticed, when we achieve one big thing, we again start to run behind another?

We don’t treat life as life only. We have made it a competition of who achieved what.
“Let’s run behind big things.”

I have seen people complaining about their parents. Then I learned the meaning of having bigger things in my life when I come home late. I don’t hear the loud yelling of my mother; instead, she asks me “Have you eaten anything?”
I see her still awake even when I’ve been late. I see her still waiting for me. Then she tells me to go and freshen up myself while she will serve the food on the table. Even when I am tired or sleepy, I instantly forget everything because I smell my favorite food. When my elders hold my hands while crossing the road, even when I did not tell them anything about it. Those small waves that kids do when they look at me. But then little things never mean small dreams. Because someone might read this and think “I should not dream big because small things are important.”

Of course, we should dream big. Dreams are not the problem. The problem starts when we start sacrificing our present in the hope of having a bigger life for the future.
Little doesn’t mean less, and big dreams aren’t bad.
Big dreams are important. Achievements are important. We should also celebrate big happiness, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the only happiness.

You don’t always fall in love in September and find a lover to hold your hands through the winters. There are no flowers to wake up to, no hot chocolate at midnight to keep you warm. You might also feel like your life is slowing down. A year has passed and you are almost in the same place from where you started. But there will be little things. Most insignificant, like a free buffet, a whole afternoon and poetry, new music, and your friends telling you how much they love you, and laughters. There will not be achievements. You’ll still fail the test and look for inspiration everywhere, cry yourself to sleep, and hate how your hair looks on weekends.

But it’ll matter less and less. Because there will be some unplanned trips, some artistic brilliance, your favorite food waiting for you at the table, reading Harry Potter for the first time, and drinking a new flavor of herbal tea.

There will be your parents to always give a pat on your back even when you fail the test. There will be your younger siblings to ask questions as if you are their teacher. There will be the days when you’ll randomly see the sunflowers in your garden and realize that you did the best thing by planting them.

Basically, big things can make life exciting, but little things can make life meaningful. Maybe life was never meant to be measured only by the big things we achieve. Maybe a beautiful life isn’t made of only big moments. The small moments that make us smile without a reason. The little things that nobody notices, but somehow make our day better. A quiet evening, a favorite song, a cup of tea, the sky changing its colors, or simply sitting with someone we love.

Little things were never little. We just learned to call them that because we were too busy chasing the big ones.