Some people would rather be miserable.
Sure, if they had more time or money to do the things they enjoy then they’d be happy.
But that’s never gonna happen.
Happiness is reserved only for a special percentage of the population. Not everyday people like you and me.
Everyone says they want to be happy, but no one really understands what happiness is. Happiness has been misinterpreted as an endless euphoria, where nothing ever goes wrong and magic pixies float through the sky.
Society tells you: ‘Buy this!’ or ‘Do that!’ Then you’ll be happy. You need a bigger house, a new car. More. More. More.
What if more wasn’t always better? It doesn’t matter how much Lysol you spray, it’s not going to cover up the smell of dog crap until you clean up the mess.
Happiness isn’t about doing more, but rather doing less, so you can magnify what makes you truly happy.
You have to eliminate the unnecessary.
The truth is, it’s not what happy people do that makes them so different, but what they choose not to do that allows happiness to circulate into their life.
By avoiding negative environments, bad habits, and poor lifestyles, happy people create space in their lives that makes room for happiness.
At the end of this post, you’ll know exactly what things may be obstructing your happiness and how to eliminate them for good.
Because when you break it down, being happy isn’t as hard as it seems.
1. Toxic People
You’ve probably heard of The Rule of 5, which says that the five people you spend the most time around have the biggest impact on who you are as a person.
Spending time around negative people who shoot down your dreams takes a lot of energy and wears out your level of happiness.
It takes courage to distance yourself from these people, but devoting your precious time to people who make you miserable isn’t worth missing out on happiness.
2. Rushing/Being late
Over-sleeping and frantic mornings put you in the wrong mindset right from the start. When you’re rushing late to work or procrastinating until the last possible minute you lose all buffer time in case things go wrong.
Of course, sometimes this is inevitable. We take longer to do something than originally planned and have to rush to accomplish the task. But it doesn’t have to be an everyday affair.
Avoiding a procrastination habit prevents you from unneeded stress and is a simple fix that allows you do slow down and enjoy what you’re doing.
3. Unhealthy Addictions
Smoking & drinking are usually the first to come to mind, but even other habits like never going a day without coffee or watching 3 hours of TV a night can effect your happiness.
It doesn’t mean coffee or TV are bad for you, it’s just not healthy to be addicted to anything, really. Test yourself: Can you go a full 48 hours without caffeine? Try it on the weekend or when you don’t have to work.
It’s fun to take “fasts” from certain habits in your life. So you can how much free time you have without TV or how you don’t actually need coffee to start your day.
4. Media Overload
Many people cut ties with the news and media altogether to avoid the negativity. They trust that if there is something they need to know word of mouth will send the information their way.
This works great for a lot of people, but there are also those who wish to be informed on what’s going on the world.
Here’s your solution:
a. Save the news for the afternoon. You don’t need to start your day hearing the tragedies in the world. You can wait until you get home.
b. Set a time limit. You’ll hear everything you need to know within 15-30 minutes of watching. You don’t need to keep watching to see if you missed anything.
5. Suppressing Emotions
The biggest misconception about happiness is that those who are happy feel absolutely vibrant 100% of the time and never experience any emotion other than pure joy.
The truth about happy people is they experience all emotions just like every other human, the difference is they freely express they’re emotions and allow them to take their course.
In other words, when they’re upset they don’t hide it. They let their emotions show and trust that, by expressing that feeling, it will pass.
Emotions come from our natural instincts, so when you try to hide an emotion like sadness, it doesn’t go away. Sadness fights back and comes out even stronger. Expressing yourself releases the emotion and allows happiness levels to come back into focus.
6. Four-Wall Syndrome
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein
Staying inside all day traps from the freedom of the outside world. It’s no coincidence that a majority of happy people love to explore outdoors, whether it’s hiking, road trips or as simple as family barbecues.
The longer you keep yourself cooped inside all day the harder it is to get the motivation to step outside. Surrounding yourself by walls in the physical world builds up emotional walls by changing the way you interact with people.
7. Self-Entitlement
There’s a crucial piece to happiness that people must let go if they’re ever to be okay with life itself.
That is, humans are entitled to absolutely nothing.
We’ve been put on Earth, our home, to take care of and experience the only place in The Universe known to life.
No one owes us anything. We’re lucky enough to be here. Letting go of self-entitlement gives you the ability to appreciate all the amazing things we already have in your life.
8. Too Many Expectations
When people always set their expectation through the roof it becomes too easy for them to be let down.
You can’t expect everyone to want to do things exactly the same way as you, some people just view the world differently. Just the same, you can’t always expect for things to go your way.
Letting go of expectations doesn’t mean expecting things to be terrible, it means allowing things to be what they are and become what they need to be.
9. Staying At A Job They Hate
It’s hard to be happy when you spend 40+ hours a week at a job you can’t stand. It’s even harder to be happy when you can’t afford to leave.
It’s odd to say, but it’s perfectly normal to hate your job, many do. Chances are you aren’t in the position to quit today and find a new one, either.
But if you hate your job now, you can start taking action towards changing jobs or careers, by putting saving money for change and creating an exit plan.
It’s okay to hate your job right now, it’s not okay to hate your job 20 years from now and still be at the same place.
10. Over-Complaining
“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.” – Benjamin Franklin
Sometimes complaining is totally acceptable and healthy. It can be good to let out all of that stress and get some air out of your chest.
But, indulging in complaint driven attitudes is contagious and spending too much time around that toxicity can negatively affect your outlooks on life.
11. Excessive Clutter
Too much clutter bogs down your life making it difficult to have peace of mind.
If you ever think of moving and have to decide against it because you have too much stuff, you’re a victim of clutter.
Material possessions should only be purchased if they enhance our life, not hold us back. It shouldn’t be something that stops us from doing something we want to do.
Take action by throwing out the junk you don’t need so you can really appreciate the things that make your life better.
12. Putting Others Down
The main reason we put other people down is to feel better about ourselves. In other words, we don’t like who we are as an individual, so we need to put someone else down so we don’t look bad.
Putting someone else down provides a short term boost, that’s why we do it. But in the long term, you’re still the same person as before but now a jerk on top of it.
When you have no reason to put someone else down, or shun them away from their dreams, that’s a good signal to tell how happy you are as a person.
13. Grudges
One of the worst habits you can have is holding on to a grudge way after the altercation is over. A grudge forces you to plant one foot in the past and never fully allows you to move forward from the situation.
When you hold a grudge it changes a part of who you are. You’re staying angry with someone who already made their mistake and there’s nothing they can do to change what they did.
Holding onto a grudge only hurts yourself, and the quicker you can forgive and let go the faster you can get back to enjoying the rest of your life.
14. Worrying About The Future
When we focus all our attention on the future we end up forgetting where we are in the moment and never make any progress.
It’s good to think about the future, to develop an instinct to act and prepare yourself to live a life you want. But you can’t control everything that’s going to happen. You can manipulate certain parts of the future, but the majority is out of your hands.
There’s no positive impact from worrying about the future. All you can do is enjoy the ride and trust that the Universe will take care of you.
15. Taking Life Too Serious
In the end we live and then we die, and if you did things right, you had a lot of fun in-between. That’s all life really is. A place for us to hangout and experience some amazing things on this place we call Earth.
We make things more complicated than they need to be. We make up all these rules and start wars over misunderstood conversations between people in funny suits.
When you let go of all seriousness the pressure is off. You’re allowed to experience your life first hand and create it to become the amazing life you dreamed of.
Making Room For Happiness In Your Life Once And For All
The truth is, happiness is neither a destination or a journey, but an endless river flowing through life.
You don’t have to go looking for it, it’s already there.
All you have to do is clear out space for it. Leave little nooks and crack in your life, and like a river, happiness will flow through and fill the empty space.
There is no great search for happiness, it’s already abundant in your life. You just have to let the river flow.
George is a student of Earth exploring the world to inspire others to live the life they never thought they could. You can join the journey by downloading his latest ebook – No More Excuses: How To Quit Making Excuses For Good & Finally Do What You Love
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