What does happiness mean? I often ponder this question because a lot of the time I don’t feel happy and I feel guilty that I don’t feel happy. For me happiness comprises a number of things:
– Being content
– Being busy
– Having a feeling of self-worth
– Being positive about life, even when bad things happen
I find that my happiness depends a lot upon how I am feeling about the above things. I often find that keeping busy helps with the happiness level. If I find I am at a loss for things to do (in 2016 right, in the UK, how is that possible? I feel guilty saying I feel “bored” sometimes) then I start mulling things over. Emetophobia, depression, what I haven’t done with my life and what I feel I failed at. I hate these thoughts because they aren’t productive at all. And they don’t change anything. All I have is today and today is the day that I CAN make a change. Each day I try and tell myself I have a choice. I can choose to be happy or choose to be sad. I know it isn’t always so easy and when I was very low last spring, I didn’t care about that choice. I didn’t even want to get up to make any choice. But having gone back on meds, it has given me that little push I need to say “come on, make that choice today, make today a good day”.
For me, happiness right now is a number of things:
– Having my family and friends around me.
– Remembering that I am physically healthy and that this isn’t something to take for granted.
– Remembering to be kind to myself when I don’t feel mentally healthy. It’s ok to have a down day.
– Feeling content that after work, I can come home and snuggle my boy and enjoy a glass of wine. And that’s all that matters. I don’t need to change the world. I don’t need to feel like I’ve achieved huge things. For my boy, I AM his world right now.
– Focusing on the small stuff makes me happy. By small stuff I mean that the sun is shining or that at the end of a busy work day I come home to a warm, safe home, as above!
I used to dread the weekends and often ask my husband what the point of life was. Right now I feel happy that each week I get that weekend and I get that choice to be happy and make it a good one. I am waffling on really but for a while I wasn’t sure what happiness was and I felt guilty that on paper I should be feeling happy, yet in reality I didn’t. Here’s to a happy weekend :)
emetomum 
April 9, 2016 at 1:26 pm
There are so many aspects to happiness. Often we judge our level of happiness according to material things, according to other’s status and so on. But health, family, decent job… Sometimes are all that we require. It’s subjective. Thanks for sharing.
[@samantha_rjsdr] from Whimsical Compass
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April 10, 2016 at 6:08 pm
Def subjective and i’m learning more and more for me it is about experiences and just “being” :) thanks for reading.
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April 9, 2016 at 11:13 pm
I try to remind myself every morning that I can choose my attitude and my approach to the day with just a smile. It doesn’t always work, but it’s the way I try to start!
Happy A to Z ing! Yay, the weekend’s here! :)
Ninga Minion @YolandaRenee from
Defending The Pen
Parallels
Murderous Imaginings
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April 10, 2016 at 6:07 pm
Like you say, its a good way to start at least! hopefully we can employ this strategy tomorrow morning – argh! Mondays! thanks for reading :)
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April 14, 2016 at 8:27 pm
Being happy and feeling happy are sometimes two different things if that makes sense! I definitely need to stop doing sometimes and start enjoying :-)
Thanks for linking to #coolmumclub x
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April 22, 2016 at 5:47 pm
Very true :) thanks for reading and commenting :) x
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April 14, 2016 at 8:30 pm
I can relate to this post but when I feel low or bored, I just give myself a mental talking-to and make the choice to be positive. It can be harder than it sounds though! #coolmumclub
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April 22, 2016 at 5:48 pm
yep, i give myself the talking-to often too. thanks for reading and commenting :)
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