I saw this quote: "happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions". It's a
very simple statement, yet it resonated with me all the same. What is being happy? It's possible to be perfectly stable in life but still not be happy and I want to explore that. I know there's mindless happiness, stuff that's enjoyable on a basic instinctual level, (e.g. eating good food or watching your favorite show) but anything besides that has become a challenge to achieve. It really got me thinking when I realized that others whom you can say "happiness comes easy to" may not be that way just because of their attitude, but that their circumstances, what they spend their time on, can be a factor as well. I thought about how you can have a lifestyle that actively reinforces your happiness, and one where being happy can feel like a chore, where people, too exhausted to try, would rather lay in bed than do something, anything, enjoyable; Therefore, you can say that achieving happiness, by requiring more concentrated effort, is more of a challenge to some than for others regardless of their character.
I've personally felt this. Lately I've been caught up in trying to do things that give me some kind of sense of accomplishment, but in doing so I've been getting more stressed when I'm being lazy, essentially becoming unable to relax. Like when a meticulously planned idea just doesn't go through, I'm spending a lot of time now fretting about trying to be happy.
Having an optimistic attitude is another thing I'd like to touch on, because I've tried for as long as I can remember to have one, but it still falters occasionally.
What I'd like to ask you all is: How do you feel about your own happiness? Do you ever try to force it or does it come easy to you? and how do you rationalize it if at all? What can we do to find meaningful happiness in a life where the longer you go on the less you want to try?
[Chart] We had 1857 unique visitors this December.
Console:
X
CLEAR CONSOLE
/yu/ - Feelings
Edit
>>445
I've found that it is impossible to force yourself to be happy or optimistic. To me, it is harmful to try to convince yourself you are optimistic for the future when your current trajectory is mediocrity, or worse, you are just lying to yourself and settling when you think you are doing well in life. When that happens, you need to make a change, or it will come back to bite you. That is what I am trying to do now. I am trying to reach my potential, but I don't have a set-in-stone path forward. It is something I need to work towards and achieve to have reasons that have substance to be happy and optimistic for now and the future.
I've had a bit of an epiphany. To sum it up in a sentence, It feels much better, and is healthier to set many short term goals instead of focusing wholly on a single long term one. If you feel steadily accomplished, that momentum will carry you and your willpower over a lot of mental hurdles. So much of it is your state of mind; you just have to remember to keep it under control.