You Driving Happiness Or Is Happiness Driving You
Happiness Is In The Air
So, let’s go further into the happiness/control analysis. In this video I’m going to talk about the idea behind “control” in your life and how that impacts your happiness. Obligations to others can feel like a loss of control, but it doesn’t have to be. So what can we do?
Invest In Your Freedom
In the book The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel there is a specific conversation about how savings, and not just setting aside money, but intentional savings give you a sense of control over your future. Let’s say you’re currently working at a job that you may or may not like, and you are fairly secure in your position there, what happens if you lost that job tomorrow? Are you financially OK? Are you going to be able to take the time to find a good job to replace the one you lost?
This is where saving money can stop the perpetual cycle of unhappiness from losing control. Having enough funds to get you through a couple months will give you the time and the space to not just take the next job you’re offered so you can make rent, but to find the job that will meet your financial goals and keep you (or make you) happy.
Push For More Freedom
This doesn’t have to be just about losing a job or having a savings account. It could also be about you finding more freedom within our current existence. Maybe you ask your current employer to let you alter your schedule so you can hit that gym class you’ve been dying to try. Instead of telling yourself you can’t make it, see if your boss will let you move your shift for a few days so you can give it a try.
Don’t look at your life as fixed and your limitations as immovable forces. The worst that can happen when you ask for more space and more time, is you are told “no”. Hopefully that “no” will come with a good explanation and rationale. If it doesn’t, maybe you need to ask yourself why you’re staying a place with rigid rules that have no logical substance or support.
No One Will Build Your Life For You
One of the biggest things we must always challenge ourselves with is the fact and the idea that if we aren’t out there building the life we want, it’s not getting built. I think sometimes we just subscribe to everyone else’s life plans and we just hop along for a ride. We get a job, we just do what they tell us. We get into a relationship, we settle into some stagnant aspect of it (after the honeymoon phase of course). Then we move to a new town, after a while we get into a routine. If these routines, structures, or rules aren’t giving you the life you want, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. If you don’t, I promise you that while you’re sitting around existing, there’s people out there LIVING!
