Cue montage of happy people giving each other high fives, laughing maniacally, and tossing their poor toddlers in the air, barely managing to catch them.
I had earlier planned on writing about ‘five ways to be happy right now’. However, as I sat down with my coffee (basic hoe, right here) and prepped myself to get started - something didn’t feel quite right. Sure, my coffee tasted bland, again, but there was more to it.
How can happiness exist in the midst of so much unhappiness? It’s like the rotten apple story. You put one good, shiny apple in a bagful of rotten ones, and BAM- come next day, the shiny apple? It ain’t shiny no more. Aw.
So, the secret to happiness turns out to be pretty bewildering: Don’t seek happiness. Instead, seek to remove all sources of unhappiness. Tada!
It makes better sense too when you think about it (in relation to food, everyone understands food, c’mon). Imagine you have a jar. This jar contains both yo’ choco-chip cookies as well as your boring grandma biscuits. When you remove unhappiness from your system, aka your sad biscuits, you automatically create space for happiness! And guess what? That’s exactly what we’re gonna do today.
Ahem. Now presenting, the five reasons why your life emoticon is the RBF (resting bitch face). Get ready, we have some serious rotten apple sorting to do. Oh wait, do they make rotten apple Sorting Hats? I’ll take 5, thanks.
There’s a ridiculous misconception that I think all people still inside the Bubble (read: The Bubble Trap for more on this) suffer from. They believe that success only comes from doing something that bores them to death like 9 to 5 jobs they’re not into. To top that apple pie with a cherry - they, instead of waking up to the pain, frustration and boredom they are going through, SLEEP through it. They truly believe that they can’t be successful without a few tears and can’t enjoy themselves on the path to success. Yawn.
Have you ever seen a successful person who hates his job? Mark Zuckerberg loves his company so much that he wears only grey t-shirts so that he can conserve his decision making power for the company (he’s not making it to the runway but killing it big anyway). Lilly Singh, one of the biggest stars in the entertainment industry, talks about how her mind, soul, and body are all aligned when she’s doing what she loves, like making her weekly YouTube videos.
Forget them. Let’s talk about YOU. Remember that high when you created the beautiful art piece for your wall? The happiness you felt when you shared your poem with a friend and she said she loved it? And if you haven’t created anything or found that high (don’t do drugs, kids), I have to question your absurd priorities and suggest you head out RIGHT NOW, and find some hobbies.
When you do what you love, THAT’S when you are the most alive. STOP believing in the soul-sucking job myth (wow, we dementors now). People who are successful love their job. THAT’S the reason why they are successful. They obviously want to do more of it! And business soars.
Everyone loves fancy parties (or getting drunk at a frat house, if you’re not invited to those, ‘cause same). Everybody feels jealous when they watch their favourite YouTuber go off on a yacht with their hot AF boyfriend and you’re just sitting here cleaning out your overflowing inbox in your rickety ass apartment. I get it.
But it looks like almost everybody has forgotten how to enjoy life. We want that expensive car, the bigger pizza (on this one, I feel you. Because… food), yadda yadda. But take a second and ask yourself if these truly make you happier. Answered yes? Wrong! Gimme my money back, you lose son (what? I like money).
They won’t proffer (English on point, HA) happiness. Sure, they might cater a sort of fabricated contentment for a few days to you, but then an even fancier car comes out which is v nice and shiny or Mike talks about the mega pizza that’s big enough to pretend it’s your bedside mat (so that you don’t gotta get up for that midnight snack lol).
True happiness comes from the small things, you see. It’s about feeling the warmth of the sunshine on your toes or smelling the flowers in your garden. It’s about doing things you love, being hugged and sharing smiles. It’s about having a good hair day or making a perfectly popped bag of popcorn (which is.. kinda impossible, rip). It’s about taking care of yourself and your loved ones.
It’s truly about the little things, homie.
