Coming across this week's prompt, my mind went back to the lifestyle that I lived with my parents while growing up. The years that my ignorance of luxuries served as a tool for living a less troubled or pressured life. You can hardly miss what you have no knowledge about and this helped me to grow into a happy boy.
Living in a small village of Ayedun-Ekiti in Nigeria, I lived a happy life as a kid. I took what my parents could offer me as the best kind of living obtainable. I did not know any better one and this helped me to live a simple life with joy.
My dad has a motorcycle that he used to cover any distance beyond 4 kilometers. Anything lesser was covered by trekking. Years later that I became exposed to the existence of life above that, my unending pursuit for a better living began. Each time that I set a goal for myself on what to achieve with respect to my standard of living, the more I get to wish for more on the realization of the previous goal. It dawned on me that the happiness that accompanied minimal lifestyle as a kid is worth more than gold.
A typical day involved waking up to prepare a light vegetable breakfast with hot corn starch to warm up the system especially during winter. After that, every individual would go to his or her place of engagement for the day; the farmers went to farm, traders went to the market while I joined other school children to go to school.
I would return and meet garri with kulikuli for a light lunch especially during summer. Cold water from the earth pot would be there to provide me with the required chilled water.
Later in the evening, we would take protein like beans, milk or meat or combination of all. Fruits like pineapple, orange and many more would be there depending on the season of the year.
Coming back to the question of how my minimal day would look like, I would love to spend the day without taking any processed food. I will wake up and do a few minutes of exercise after praying. From there, I will return home to get fresh milk. My afternoon will be of more fruits and vegetables. I love playing indoor games with some friends. I would like to do that again having stayed away from it for years pursuing financial freedom. The popular one I used to play regularly is Ayo, an African game involving a wooden box of twelve holes, six each side. 48 seeds are distributed into the holes to make four in each hole. The two players run counterclockwise. The objective is to capture all your opponent's seed. After returning home, I will take carbohydrates followed by fruits.
Before going to bed, I will spend about 30 minutes or an hour reading a portion of any of my favorite books. I will take it that I am living the best life possible and by doing so, I will be happy with contentment.