What Makes You Happy?

What makes you happy in life? Actually take a moment to carefully consider the answer to this. Likely, there will be numerous things. Even if you need to write it down, list the top 5 things that truly bring you happiness in life, whether they be certain people, times, objects, activities, or moments, in which make you feel on top of the world. Personally, in no particular order, my list would include my daughter, achieving success, nights out with my friends, holidays, and watching my favorite sporting teams win. Each one of these always brings a smile to my face, some last a few moments, others last indefinitely. I could list a whole heap of other things also, such as running my business, and helping others out, but the above five I listed were first that came to my mind. The next three questions to ask yourself are, how much time do you invest in your top five things that make you happy, how much do you prioritize them, how genuinely beneficial to your life are they? When I look at my list, the first one I have listed there is my daughter. She is the world to me basically, so spending time with her is a huge priority for me, and I always dedicate time in my day to her. Spending quality time with our family and loved ones always should always be a priority of ours, because we just never know how much time we will have with them in our life, so it's important to cherish every moment. My daughter was the main reason as to why I resigned from my corporate job, nearly 4 years ago, to start my own work from home business, so I could spend more time with her.

Next on my list is achieving success. Who wouldn't feel a sense of happiness from gaining success? Success can be achieved through a number of different channels, be it from a job promotion, landing a sale within our business, coming first in a competition, being recognized for our contribution to the community, or maybe from achieving our goal. But let's not also forget that success can take shape in the form of maintaining a happy, loving, and faithful relationship with our partner, or being a patient parent that teaches our children decent morals and values, or maintaining a healthy body and lifestyle. Success can be anything we define it to be really, but it always brings about happiness and satisfaction. Next on my list are those nights out with my friends. Let's be honest, how great is it to just head out on the town, down a few drinks, sing out loud with our friends, and just do away with the troubles and stress in our life, for a few hours? Some of my most fondest and enjoyable memories are those times out clubbing with my friends, exactly as it is with many other people and their friends. I was never one to go out every weekend, as there are more proactive and productive activities to do in life, but exactly like with our family and loved ones, we can never discount the value of time spent with our friends. It's these times with our friends that create everlasting memories, that are actually so enjoyable, that it even brings a smile to our face when we reminisce over them. We need to always be focusing on our future, our health, our goals, and our family, as our priorities, but we also should always allocate some time in for our friends maybe once a month, or once every two months, because spending time with those we love is invaluable.

Holidays are the next on my top 5 list of things that make me happy. Holidays were always that one thing that helped me through depression in the years I was still working at a corporate job, because they gave me something to look forward to at least, through the mundane and debilitating days of work. Now people may think that holidays aren't exactly productive in any way, however they have proven to be a valuable contributor to improving our health. Living in such a busy and fast paced world, we are constantly on the go, we constantly have demands, we constantly have commitments, and we constantly have deadlines to meet. This can often be overwhelming, and can lead us to become stressed, anxious, and exhausted. There are not many better things in life than to just release the weight of the world from our shoulders, escape the everyday stress and pressure, and get away from our normal surroundings for a few days. Holidays give us that opportunity to just relax, unwind, and recharge the batteries. Not to mention that when we head overseas on holidays, we are blessed with the opportunity to explore new cultures, meet new people, learn different languages, and eat new and exciting cuisines. This is experience, and with experience comes learning, and with learning comes growth. We are not only aiding our health with some time to relax and rejuvenate, but we are also learning and growing through different experiences. It's wonderful to check out different countryside, different landmarks, and different scenery, and whether it be solo, with our partner, with friends, or with our family, the memories we create on holidays also live with us forever. Sure, not all holidays go to plan, and some things may go wrong, but the majority of the time, because we are not at work, and we are temporarily free of that stress and pressure, we feel that sense of great relief and happiness.

The last item on my top 5 list of things that make me happy is watching my favorite sporting teams win. Okay, so as far as being productive, I admit this one isn't. Having said that, watching sport does provide us with the opportunity to admire the skill and talent that these various athletes possess. Keep in mind, each of these sportsmen and sportswomen are human, just like us. The difference between them performing at an elite level, and you and I sitting there watching them live or on television, is they have proven they have the courage, the passion, the commitment, the patience, the resilience, and the determination, to make it as far as they have. They have created success from working hard, from non-stop training, and from pushing their bodies to the limit, day after day, week after week, for a number of years. They have made sacrifices, and they have experienced pain and failure, but they kept going because they love what they do. What they do makes them happy. Their sport is basically their occupation, so when we think of our occupation, why do we not have the same passion and flair? Simple, because we haven't been willing to adopt the same behaviors and characteristics that I listed above. We settle for any old job because at least we have some source of income, yet we remain there. We don't have that motivation and drive to get off our butt, and not only discover our passion, but also turn it into our profession. How can we possibly display our full potential, our true talent, and our true skill, by doing something we are not inspired or driven by? Each of these professional athletes were prepared to take the risk of doing what most people don't, and they knew they then had to work hard to make their dream become reality. I'm happy to say I at least made that transition to a job I hated, to running a business I love. Happiness is naturally obtained when we do things we love, it's not rocket science. Watching sport may not be productive, but it certainly gives us a timely reminder, and the opportunity to see other humans put us to shame, by doing what they love, whilst in our own life, we are stuck doing what we hate.

Life is too short to be unhappy! I have said it many times over in my blog entries, that the four biggest priorities in our life should be our health, our happiness, our goals, and our family. Each decision and action we make each day should always have these at the forefront of our mind. If we are not prioritizing these, then likely we are engaging in activities and events that aren't making us happy. Sure we need money, and we need to be working, both of which are of great importance, but we don't need to be robots that simply follow the direction that the majority of other people follow. Don't be afraid to be different! What makes you happy? Turn that hobby or interest into your career! It can be done, the question is how willing are you to turn that idea into an income generator? So take this opportunity to again think of what makes you happy in life, and do more of it. Stop doing more of what makes you unhappy! Spend quality time with your family, relish in those moments you are out with your friends, treat yourself to a holiday each year, watch those who are elite and who have achieved success, adopting the same characteristics and behaviors they possess, and get yourself motivated and driven to create success and achieve your goals in life! If you want a little secret to even greater happiness and satisfaction in life, then make these two actions become habit; help others and give generously, and secondly, start appreciating what you do have in life, rather than what you don't.

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