Happiness

Many conversations over the past few weeks lead me to this blog post.   Everyone always says they just want to be happy, but in reality- what does that mean? 

I'm probably about to open a can of worms here, but let's dive into what happiness means. 

For me- happiness is a feeling that I want to experience daily.   It's a feeling of being comfortable, safe, and loved.  I'm sure someone would say that's not what happiness is at all, but we each have a different definition of happiness.   Happiness to me is not feeling doom and gloom; it's wanting to get up every morning and live my life to the fullest.  

Happiness is not being on vacation all of the time or being completely stress free.  Our emotions will vary from moment to moment- that doesn't mean we have issues.  It is simply the nature of humans.   You may feel esctatic about something for a few minutes and then be upset for a while.  You may be tired and stressed, but none of this means you aren't happy.   

Being happy is a state of mind.   Happiness comes from within, not from external sources of pleasure.   I can be happy without having anything.   THINGS do not provide true happiness. However, there are multiple things that can cause us to feel unhappy or even depressed.

If you don't feel happy every single day, at least for a little while, then you may need to dig deeper into your life to see what's going on. It may not be that anything is truly wrong, but maybe you have a chemical imbalance.   It's possible that you just need to make some changes internally or maybe you need to physically make changes.   And, if you have a chemical imbalance or you just can't seem to get out of a funk- you may need professional help.  There is NOTHING wrong with seeking help for depression or unhappiness in your life.  In fact, I would encourage you to seek out help if you just need to work through some emotions or if you feel down/depressed more than 50% of the time.  Living in a constant state of unhappiness is not good for us; not only is it bad for us mentally, but it also can take a toll on us physically.

Even though I look incredibly happy in this picture, I was miserable.  I was living in a constant state of depression at that time in my life.

Regardless of what's going on in your life that is making you feel unhappy,  there is hope.  YOU can be happy.   It may take physical changes such as adding in exercise to your daily routine or maybe you just need to make simple changes to your diet.  If those things don't work and you can't seem to process what is making you feel so bad/unhappy, please seek out help.   A constant state of unhappiness can lead to depression and depression can lead to serious things that you may never have imagined happening to you.   

Life is not going to be rainbows and glitter all of the time, but you should feel happiness on a regular basis!   If you need help, please feel free to reach out to me privately.  I'm not a professional with these things, but I have personal experience and am happy to listen and help point you in the right direction for finding a professional to help.  

At first glance, someone might think I'm sad or depressed in this picture.  I look pretty miserable.  Truthfully, I was just physically exhausted when I took this picture.  I was INCREDIBLY HAPPY!