Something I have begun to learn as I’ve gotten older is that happiness comes and goes. It’s not achievable for us to be in a state of happy all the time. Nor would I want to be. Happiness can come and go, it’s more of a fleeting emotion than one that remains. Once I learnt this, I came to realise how in reality we can choose when and if to be happy.
I definitely had people telling me to be happy or see the good in life when I was going through a hard time. And although at the time I didn’t really appreciate the advice, they were right. Life is hard, and sometimes we choose to make it harder when we stay stable in our suffering. And let’s be honest, alot of us are guilty of doing that. It’s so easy to wallow in self pity when you’re feeling low. It’s up to us to make an active choice each day to find happiness in the things we do.
Of course there are exceptions to what I am trying to say here. People who suffer with mental health problems cant always just decide one day to be happy. Mental health is a whole different ball game, and we should never tell somebody suffering mentally to just ‘be happy’. You wouldn’t tell someone with a broken leg that they should just ‘heal themselves’ because duh thats impossible. What I am trying to say with this post is that there IS happiness in each day and in our lives. We just have to be willing to look for it. It doesn’t mean finding those things will instantly make us better, or make us happier people. But it does help in making our overall outlook in life better.
FIND THINGS IN YOUR DAY THAT SPARK JOY
As I mentioned previously, finding small things each day that spark joy is such a great way to remind ourselves of how lucky we are. Did you wake up today? Did you sleep in a bed? How was your breakfast this morning? Its amazing you even have food to eat. Perspective is important, because there are thousands if not millions of people who don’t have the luxury of walking over to their fridge and grabbing food.
Things that sparked joy in my day today:
- The rain – we haven’t had rain where I live for a long time. I can see the grass springing back into action and the birds enjoying the refreshing water.
- I was able to wash clothes – something so small, but so big. I am grateful that I have a washing machine and clean clothes to put on every single day.
- Music – I work from home and all day everyday as I work, I listen to music. Music is really my escape and I love sitting at my desk and singing.
- Freshly painted nails – recently going to get my nails done has become way too expensive. So I got myself some new nail polish, and I really enjoy sitting and painting my nails. So thats what I did for 5 minutes today before my day started.
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COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
Theres a hymn that we sing in church sometimes. And when I was thinking of the title of this next part of the post. It came to mind. The lyrics are so important.
Count your blessings name them one by one
Count your many blessings
Name them one by one
And it will surprise you
What the lord has done.
Even if you aren’t a believer, we can all do this. The writer of that hymn actually did this because she was going through a hard time. She didn’t want to be here anymore. Before she decided what she would do, she wrote two lists. One was a list of reasons to not be here anymore, the other was a list of all the good she had in life. And as you can imagine, her blessings list surpassed the other.
Take a moment and do the same thing. Write and list and really think about the blessings you have around you. You’ll count more than you think and I guarantee it makes you happier.
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LIFE COMES WITH HILLS AND VALLEYS
Choosing happiness is easy to do when things are going great in life. It’s when times are tough that it’s harder to be happy in your circumstance. But remember that everybody goes through the hills and valleys in life. I think its so comforting to know that you aren’t the only one facing challenges in life.
It’s important as a blogger that I share the good and the bad. I don’t want anybody reading my blog to ever think my life is perfect and nothing ever goes wrong. A hill and a valley that happened to me recently is that I injured myself after I did my half marathon. The hill was that I accomplished such a major goal for myself this year. I lost the weight, and I completed such a challenging physical thing. Shortly after, I realised I injured my back. I haven’t been able to do any running since May. Which meant all of the training I did, has now gone.
I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but anybody who has hurt their back will know how much of an inconvenience it is. I’m in the valley with that right now. But I know, once I have worked through it and gotten better. I’ll be back up that hill again!
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What are some things that have brought you happiness recently? How do you keep yourself in a happy place?
I’d really love to hear from you about this topic. It’s something thats heavy on my heart right now. So I’d love to hear about your own experiences. And I want to know what makes you happy too.
Thank you for being here.
Hey Olivia, I can relate to this right now. I have struggled with my mental health for years, and it’s only recently I have got it under control. However, I realised recently I still have a lot of work to do. I was mentally triggered by something that was said to me, and it affected me a lot. I realised I couldn’t mask it with my usual ‘go-to’ tools, I had to sit for a while a cry it out. Once I had sat with my emotions, wrote them down, and started to feel relatively calm, I could then start to feel grateful and use my tools. Like you say in this post, it’s good to focus on simple things like the rain or the sun shining. Happiness is simplicity. Thanks for sharing. Jade MumLifeAndMe
Thank you for sharing this Jade.
I use this technique a lot too. I think a lot of us actually hate the feeling of being anxious or stressed. So we often try to avoid that feeling and distract ourselves. But all we’re doing is making it worse. Facing it on and letting the emotion take its course can really help. And usually once it’s done, the feeling is gone and you feel better!
Great post much needed
Thank you!
I totally agree with the idea of being able to choose to be happy. I have relatives that seem to always see the negative and love to wallow in their own self pity. It drives me nuts! They seem to enjoy it. I don’t think I will ever understand it. I always try to see the positive side to life and I feel happy and relaxed most of the time.
Honestly there are just some people who will always live their life this way. We just have to remember to let it be a lesson for us, that we never end up like that!
I’ve had my moments, but there’s always that little thing. I watched a bit about a lady that takes the time every day to take a photo of something no matter how small that catches her fancy…I like just beong content, which I guess is the same?
I love that idea so much!
I think ability to laugh at yourself is really useful. I’ve had to remind myself of this once or twice recently when I’ve got so caught up in my own head I’ve allowed things to get bigger than they actually are.
You’re so right! Sometimes you cant take life too seriously!
Wow,,,I totally agree
You just made me happy😁😁
Great post! Congratulations on the marathon. I hope your back gets better soon. For me, it’s the little things that make me happy, like my morning coffee, the sunset, my son’s smile, etc.
Love the post, hope your back feels better..