Happiness. The easiest thing to go unnoticed, and the hardest thing to grasp. Happiness comes from you and solely you. It doesn't just appear because you achieved a goal, or bought the new dress your eyes caught. It depends on your perspective and the way you perceive what has happened. It shouldn't be about the prize or approval or praise we're always looking for. Comprehending the way you feel- amazing or terrible- is the key factor in knowing if you're happy. What does your body tell you when you think the thing you did made you happy? Find out what makes the gut feeling in the pit of your stomach float to your heart and start from there.
Happiness is a choice. Statistics say that the age group from 18-24 makes about 1,000 decisions a day. 1,000 decisions a day. You decide to wake up, brush your teeth, eat. You follow your routine without realizing how many choices you are making. So, when you wake up, tell yourself that today is going to be a fantastic day. Tell yourself that you are enough. Tell yourself that you are beyond extraordinary. And when you start believing those things, you hold the whole world in your hands and in your soul.
About a year ago, I started my own happiness project. I was browsing through the bookstore and came across this book "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. She had been wanting more out of the life she was given; she knew she needed to change something. She created a list of her own ten commandments she would follow every day for a year and hopefully the rest of her life. Some of her commandments included: be Gretchen, do it now, act the way you want to feel, etc. Hearing about how she pinpointed those certain areas she needed to fix and learning how she wasn't changing who she was but changing who she could be was almost comforting in a way. The single thought of knowing someone could do it suddenly made it possible that I could do it. So, I did.
I put-forth a list of 14 commandments I would follow. Now, some days are harder than others and I don't stay true to them perfectly, but I'm growing every single day, and experiencing something new all the while. However, I could just decide to go through the motions and let the days I was given the privilege to have slipped away without feeling, thinking, or doing. For awhile I was doing that. I never really felt like myself, and I was so fixated on the mistakes I made in the past that I never really felt the happiness I was always longing for. Every day, I would wake up, go to school, go to soccer practice, do homework, and sleep. It was exhausting. Soul-beating. Stressful. I didn't love the person my life was making me out to be. I wasn't doing things that I knew made me happy. And then I made a choice. I started to learn that the moments now are what matters.
Now, everyone has their own story, their own past, and their own future. You are your own person, so don't live in other peoples' shadows. Create your own. Loosen the hinges on the door that's keeping you shut out and knock it down. You can only be happy if you allow yourself to be.
"What you do every day matters more than what you do once in awhile."
-Gretchen Rubin
