Choosing Happiness

“I’ll be happy when I go to Hawaii.”
“I’ll be happy when I can afford the new car.”
“I’ll be happy when my skin clears up and I don’t have acne.”
“I’ll be happy when I lose 10 pounds.”
“I’ll be happy when I’m less forgetful.”
“I’ll be happy when I reach 10,000 followers on Instagram.”
“I’ll be happy when I have a flat stomach and 6-pack abs.”
“I’ll be happy when I’m not sick anymore.”

Do these sentences sound familiar to anyone?  I hear these sentences (or something similar) ALL THE TIME.

What do these comments tell us?  Instead of focusing on what we have, we are focusing on what we don’t have.  Instead of feeling gratitude, we are constantly seeking more.  We are waiting to feel happiness.

Guess what?  There will continually be something we don’t have.  When we go to Hawaii, most of us want the new swimsuit too.  When we can afford the new car, most of us want the extra upgrades too.  When we don’t have acne a lot of us find that our hair is thinner than we’d like as well.  When we lose 10 pounds a lot of us realize we actually wanted to lose 13.

I don’t mean to be the pessimist here, but I do want to be realistic.  Why are we choosing unhappiness?  Why are we allowing ourselves to rely on things we may or may not reach to be happy?

You deserve to feel happy.  You deserve to feel happy right now.

Now, I’m not saying that happiness is easy.  Things can get in the way and put a heavy burden on our shoulders.  Things like mental illness, hormone levels, big life changes, family difficulties, etc. can make happiness feel impossible.  How do I know that?  There was I time that I truthfully felt that happiness was far out of reach.  There was a time where my “normal” was to wake up feeling sad, ungrateful, and pessimistic.

It sucked.

Quit attaching happiness to weight loss and pant sizes and pleasing others.  Quit attaching happiness to social media and jealous stares from other people.  Quit attaching happiness to the vacations you take and the amount of money you make.

You have a choice.  You can allow yourself to feel unhappy or you can take baby steps forward.  You can stay comfortable in whatever your “normal” is or you can fight and release any negative thoughts you’re holding onto.  You can be dissatisfied for as long as you want or YOU CAN CHOOSE JOY.

Life can knock you down, but you have the option to get back up again.  Remember that YOU have control over your life.  YOU deserve to feel happy.  YOU are worthy of happiness!