11 Oct Trying to be happy DESPITE it all
As you may well know, I often find it hard to be happy.
I only share this now because I’m well aware that many of you do too; I’m not the only one who experiences unhappiness, in all its various guises, to some extent or other.
But in today’s post, as much for me as for any of you, I want to write about how I’m trying to be happy DESPITE all the many reasons I have NOT to be happy.
Some might call them excuses, but I think they’re unkind, because I (and no doubt you) experience a range of stressors and in many cases very valid obstacles to really enjoying positive emotions.
As such, we often tell ourselves something like “I’ll be happy when…” with the sentence being finished with something like:
- when I get more sleep
- when my work improves
- when I have more money
- when I’ve lost weight (or gotten fitter)
- when I find the love of my life
- when the love of my life finds me
I could go on but I hope you get the idea.
Anyway, today I’m going to try (and I’ll try to bring you along for the ride) to be happy despite my version of the above list.
To do so I’m going to try to say to myself:
- I’m tired and exhausted but I can still do my best today
- rather than focus on those things in my life I’m not entirely satisfied with, I’ll focus on those for which I’m grateful and appreciative
- the fact I’m still striving to make some things better, doesn’t mean I can’t be content and thankful for that which is already very good
The point is, there will always be aspects of life that aren’t perfect. Why? Because life’s not perfect; we’re not perfect. But if you / we can learn to live our lives within that imperfection, improving where we can and accepting where we have to, then real and enduring happiness can exist, each and every day!