“I just want to be happy!!”
It doesn’t take a long time being immersed in the mental health field to hear a client say these words. Being in this field, it is common to encounter people looking to improve upon something in their life. Through my experiences, I started to notice trends in what people are looking for and trends in what people think they want.
One of the first things I will talk to a client about is what brought them to counseling.
This is where a client usually provides me with an identified problem. Everyone has problems to solve in life, but everyone’s problems are unique.
So where is the trend if everyone has different problems?
The trend is in the solution; it’s in what people want to see change in their lives.
People want to find happiness.
This is not just the case in a therapeutic setting. Happiness is one of the most common desires in life; an understandable desire, of course. Happiness is the “feel-good” emotion.
Well I am here to convince you to STOP TRYING TO FIND HAPPINESS!!!
Stop trying so hard to find happiness, and instead work to create happiness.
Stop trying to be happy, and rather just feel happy.
Stop looking at happiness as a destination.
Realize that happiness lies within the moments along the way.
If your goal is happiness, you might as well be walking down a proverbial, endless hallway. Create a more fulfilling life for yourself by understanding that HAPPINESS IS NOT HAPPENSTANCE. People are not happy by accident. It’s not something that just appears out of thin air.
Happiness is a choice.
It’s in how you choose to perceive each day;
It’s in the moments you choose to experience;
It’s in the gratitude you choose to find for the little things.
With that, I challenge you to end this tireless quest to find happiness.
You’re not going to find it, if that’s all you are looking for.
Happiness is not a constant state of mind; rather it’s in the genuine experience of a moment that makes you feel positively alive.
