Happiness is a subjective feeling that carries different conditions or circumstances for each one of us. Each of us has our own idea of what happiness is.
What each one of us should know, is that for each of us, our happiness comes from within. No one is responsible for our happiness but ourselves. I repeat, no one is responsible for our happiness but ourselves.
Our partner, if we have one, hopefully cares about our happiness, but they are not responsible for making us happy. They’ll want happiness for us, but their part in helping us be happy is by encouraging us to pursue our goals and dreams, just as we should encourage them to pursue their goals and dreams.
For some us, we stay so busy dealing with the demands of each day, we may not even know if we are happy. This is a very dangerous place to be.
If we aren’t aware of our happiness or unhappiness, how can we possibly make decisions that will positively affect our happiness? We can’t. If we don’t know that we’re standing in the middle of a quagmire, how can we possibly know that we need to step out of that mess before we sink further and further into it?
This is where self care becomes so important. This is where we must take the time to stop and just be. This is a time for solitude and being in nature or outdoors so that we can become grounded and ask ourselves important questions like, “Am I happy in this current situation? Am I happy with myself?”
I found myself in a position similar to this years ago regarding the business I owned at the time. Reflecting back on it, I was really happy with what I had built and with the lifestyle that I was living. But I was being pressured by outside forces to join with them and create something much bigger.
In this case, I was asking advice from respected business associates and friends about what I should do. Most of them warned me against making that move. Truth be told, if I’d taken the time to reflect and evaluate where I was, I would have come to the same conclusion. I’m happy with what I have. Adding more to it is not going to increase my happiness. But I oddly enough and totally out of character for me, I didn’t take that time to be still and quiet and take note of my feelings. I assumed that bigger was better (it wasn’t) and I went forward with the “opportunity” that was put in front of me.
That “opportunity” turned out to be a disaster for me. Because of that one decision I eventually lost my business that I’d spent 14 years building from nothing but an idea.
Because I didn’t take the time to stop and look at how truly happy I was with what I had built at that moment, I moved forward with a decision that was going lessen my authority over my life and my business. What could possibly go wrong?? .......... Right.
Bottom line, sometimes we are happy and are unaware that we are. Everyone has heard the saying, “Sometimes you don’t know what you have until you lose it.” That is one of the toughest lessons we can ever learn. Stop. Be still. Look at what you have and have accomplished. Be grateful for what you have accomplished so far, even if you’ve still not reached your goal.
If your content and satisfied with where you are, stay the course. You’ll get to where you want to go.
Giving up your power for bigger and better isn’t always going to bring you the happiness you may already have. - GB