What defines happiness? I have no idea. What makes people happy? I don’t know. What makes you happy? You’d have to answer that for yourself. These are questions that I ask myself from time to time. Happiness is something that I want in my life through and through, not only in my life but also in the lives of those around me. I want everyone, whether family, friends or a stranger, to be happy with themselves, with the things they have and everything they have achieved. But the reality is that only some people will be truly happy – not everyone.
What is Happiness?
- An emotional state characterised by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfilment.
- Good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.
Can I honestly say that I am completely happy in life right now? The truth is, no, I can’t. I know I haven’t done enough and have so much work to do to fulfil the happiness and success I want to achieve. I can’t remember the last time I was truly happy throughout my life. Okay, wait, that is a lie – The last time I was happy was from the 27th of January – the 6th of February when my Mrs and I went to Egypt for ten days. Aside from that, I could not say when I was last happy throughout every aspect of my life; can anyone? We are in a world where everything is so in the now that I think it is more complicated for people to be happy entirely with everything.
You see, everyone has things they do to give them joy. It could be cooking, playing games, playing sports, watching sports, going out with friends, doing activities; the list could go on. I used to say things such as playing PlayStation made me happy all the time, and to a point, it does – until I realised that it was a distraction to escape what I was avoiding in my life.
I have learnt a few things about myself lately – I’ve noticed that I feel most happy when travelling, writing, or creating/building something. I love to experience things; so travelling for me is one way of experiencing life in a new way; different cultures and environments, with different people and a different and refreshing air to breathe, is an experience that I love; which makes me happy.
Writing/Creating is something that brings me ultimate happiness, the feeling of putting my thoughts down, whether writing a review or about a topic I think about, writing a script or writing drafts of a Novel; there is something special about creating something in my mind and transferring them into words on a page; it gives me a high and a form of rush through my body. – It’s funny because I said I couldn’t remember the last time I was truly happy, but I feel a rush of happiness while writing this.
When I mean happiness, I mean happiness throughout my life. I know I am not happy with every aspect of my life; because I have a lot to work on. The older I get, the more I think about how far I have come and the ups and downs I have faced – the fact that I am living and breathing should be more than enough for me to be happy about, and I am. I am grateful to be alive and well. – but as I am human, I can’t help but want more to feel completely happy.
Realistically, I know that I will never have everything I want in life that will make me happy. I need to work towards what I want, to feel a little bit happier within myself. Self-happiness is something that I have struggled with for as long as I can remember. I haven’t been happy within myself for a while, and I have no one to blame except for myself for that. Whether it is with my health, lifestyle, or job, the only person who can control those things is myself. I tend to settle with things and always doubt myself and my ability to do better – even if it means I could be happier.
I know that I am in charge of my happiness; it is only down to myself. No one should be able to make me happy more than me – no one should have the ability to control my happiness, no matter the situation. I am my worst enemy; I hinder myself from progressing, which hinders me from being happy the way I want.
To progress and feel a quarter of the happiness in my life, I need to work harder and be stricter with myself. I firmly believe that the energy you put out will return to you. I try to be positive as much as possible – however, I tend to speak negatively around myself, affecting my happiness in many ways.
This year, I decided to take a new approach to my life by working on the things I want in my life to be as happy as I want. I got myself a new job – this was the first step. I promised myself to post my writing at least twice a week – a month and a half later, and I have kept it up, despite being on holiday for ten days. These are just two things I managed to change and work on to improve my happiness.
The few steps I have taken have made me somewhat happier in my life. I will continue to work on myself and my craft to better my life and happiness.