Before we get very far into this blog, it is important to realize that happiness comes in many forms and you must ask yourself what happiness means to you. For many years in my life, I was searching for happiness. I graduated and moved away to college, which was a fun time, and many memories were created, but would I want to go back? Heck no! After college, I figured I would find the fulfillment I was looking for in a full time career in my field of social work, and in starting a family. Okay, so if I’m totally honest with you, I loved my job, loved my family, but I had an ache…is this what it is all about? I thought maybe I need to do more fun things; parties, friends, late nights, shopping trips,….no, no, no…the ache continued. Before you start thinking that maybe I was depressed, I wasn’t. I was stressed out often, but not depressed. My problem was that I kept searching for an event to define my happiness and the problem with an event, is that it is just that…an event. Really, how long can an event last?
I first realized I had what I now describe as “event syndrome” after hearing a speaker describe his experience of climbing Mt. Everest, or at least I think it was Mt. Everest. You see, as a young child he dreamed of climbing the mountain and when he was finally able to achieve his dream, he described it as a huge let down. He had spent years dreaming about it, but that is where the dream ended…at the mountain top. He hadn’t been focused on enjoying the journey, he had only been focused on the top of the mountain and now at the top of the mountain this sobering thought occurred to him, “If this has been my dream for 20 years, what is next?”
The lesson learned in all of this, is to enjoy the journey to your mountain top. Slow down and enjoy the experiences along the way. When we stop rushing to get to the top, we actually have time to enjoy all the little experiences along the way. Graduation is huge, but if we let that define us, we will struggle to continue growing. Marriage and kids are something lots of us strive for, but let’s be real…marriage and kids are a lifelong process that can’t be put into a box…we are consistently called to be building these relationships.
The moral of this blog, is that happiness doesn’t come in an event. Happiness comes in the journey, and although we don’t have complete control of our journey, we do have lots of choices along the way.
The biggest key to happiness is to live a life of gratitude, simply put, we should all look for the blessings in every day. Some people like to start their day with blessings while others like to do it at bedtime. I recommend that you do it throughout your day. If you are struggling to get out of bed, start counting your blessings. If you are having a rough day, search for blessings. When you are having a great day, count your blessings. Are you beginning to understand how and when to count your blessings?
We live in a world full of negative influences such as; the media, many people on social media, family, friends and co-workers can be negative. All of this negativity makes us believe that if we could only climb that mountain top, we could find our happiness, but happiness doesn’t have to be that difficult. When you change your negative thoughts, it can change not only you and your happiness level, but also those around you.
Are YOU ready for your happiness jouney?
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