The road to happiness is riddled with twists and turns.
But what is true happiness? Is it a destination? Is it a moment? Is it a feeling? Is it a state of being?
These are the questions that are constantly on my mind.
The other day, I was doing my chores (if I’m honest, with a bit of a bad attitude) because I just didn’t feel like it. I worked close to 50 hours last week and the last thing I wanted to be doing on a Sunday after doing more overtime for my 9-5 job was to change my bedsheets, do laundry, wash dishes and vacuum.
But then I caught my thoughts – what am I complaining about? This is part of life. Why am I being so negative and pissy about doing chores? What else would I be doing?
Yes, I wanted to rest, but it was still early enough in the day that if I focused and got my chores done, I would have plenty of time to rest and do other things that I wanted to do for myself.
Which led me to think about how we are always looking for next thing. How easy it is to complain about the present moment or about something that we are doing, rather than just enjoying it for what it is.
And this is also a mistake that we often make when we keep pursuing happiness. When we keep thinking “I’ll be happy when….”
“I’ll be happy when I lose weight.”
“I’ll be happy when I make more money.”
“I’ll be happy when I’m able to buy all the things that I want.”
What we don’t realize is that our goal post is always going to change, which means that even when we lose the weight or make more money or buy all the things…there’s always going to be more that we want. And that creates a perpetual cycle of unhappiness.
And trust me, I’ve been guilty of that as well, and I continue to have be very conscious of not repeating the same pattern. Because it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and to focus on the things that bother us and the things that we don’t like and alllll the things we want to change.
But what if we were just happy, right now.
What if we found joy in the chores? What if we found comfort in the routines? What if we focused on what we are grateful for and all the things we DO have?
Like I said, I am totally guilty of doing the opposite. In fact, that’s why my business has developed into what it is today. Because I was constantly unhappy and I kept reaching milestones and still didn’t feel happy and I thought there was something wrong with me.
And there wasn’t anything wrong with me per se because we live in a society that encourages instant gratification and extreme levels of consumerism. Which leaves us feeling empty and seeking out happiness from the wrong thing.
But if we stopped and realized that we can choose to be happy in this moment, right now, we take back the power and give ourselves the gift of joy.
