OK. Fair enough.
What if you are not happy like the guy below on the swings?
Happiness is all about you. You can choose to be happy if you want or you can choose to be miserable if you want. It's entirely up to you.
Your health is your decision at the end of the day. You can choose to sit in front of the television if you want or you can choose to go to the gym.
Your career is your decision at the end of the day. You can choose to have the awful job with the demanding boss or you choose to be our own boss.
Your relationships are your decision at the end of the day. You can choose to have that unloving relationship where you are intimate once a year or you can have that relationship where you can't keep your hands off each other.
Your interests are your decision at the end of the day. You can choose to sit on the couch all day and do diddly-squat or you can get out and about doing as much as possible, going home tired but really satisfied.
By making the right decision in each of these four categories, you can become happy.
What else can you do, however? Here's a list of things:
1. Don't get overjoyed about something new
You got a new sweater? Wow! Who cares? You equate you happiness with what possessions you have? That isn't a good look. Think about when you were really happy in your life. Yes, that time when you actually ACCOMPLISHED something. You put your mind to something and you went and did and that feeling was probably as good as anytime when you got a new pair of shoes.
2. Don't try to rip someone off
When I worked in the financial industry we talked about commodoties and I learned the expression 'nil-sum game.' When basically if someone is making money in commodoties then another person is losing that money. Why do you try to become happy by making someone else look bad? It is just plain, out and out bullying. It is not cool at all and it makes you look like an asshole that you know and everybody knows that you are.
3. Don't worry about criticism
When you start something new, you will always come up against people who just don't understand. When I started this blog, people just couldn't undertasnd why I would want to write in my spare time. "Isn't that for drinking and watching TV", they would ask. When I started Crossfit, people would ask why I was doing it because it was too hard. Well, let me just say that it was too hard for them. The blog sounded too much work for them. Do what makes YOU happy, not what makes them happy because if you do what makes them happy, you WON'T be happy. Make sense?
4. Don't quit
People like to start things but the instance that there is a small bump in the road they like to give up. All the work they have done to that stage is flushed down the drain. Don't let that be you. Get your happiness from the fact that you do not quit. Get your happiness from the fact that you are enjoying the journey and who cares if you don't get to the destination because you are going to be way ahead of the majority of people around you.
5. Don't wait for the right moment
There is never going to be the right moment. Life is always going to be in the way. Just get started. You will be happy about making that first step and then you will get happier taking that second step and so on. Life isn't about the destination, it is about the process and if you get satisfaction from the process then that is half the battle.
6. Don't think you are not happy
If you are reading this I'm guessing that you have a little bit of money. You have clothes on your back and you have food and you have a roof over your head. I'm just guessing this but I'm pretty sure I'm correct. I have a question: why are you miserable? You have everything you need now and you also have the attributes to make those things better. So put a smile on your dial and get going. Imagine if everything in that list was taken away, that would not be cool and then you would have something to be unhappy about.
You are happy. Don't forget that.
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