Does it feel like you’re always waiting for something better to arrive?
Many of us have the following formula for happiness. We wait for 5:00 o’clock. We wait for the weekend. We wait until our boss quits. We wait until we finally get that raise and/or promotion at work. We wait for retirement. We wait until we fall in love again. We wait until we find the courage to leave our awful relationship. We wait until we have a particular car to drive. We wait until we can live in a nicer neighborhood. We wait until we get out of debt. We wait until we lose the weight.
Surely then I’ll finally be happy…right?
Unfortunately, happiness doesn’t work that way. If your happiness is placed in the future, you are holding your happiness hostage. Nothing is more damaging to your happiness than choosing to wait for it.
Once we finally get what we’re looking for, we realize that while it may make us temporarily happy, it will not make us as happy as deeply (or for as long) as we thought it would.
There’s something in the human psyche that deeply believes that if something is hard to do, doesn’t feel comfortable or doesn’t come naturally, it’s better not to do it—yet.
It’s easier to leave things as they are. It’s easier to hang out and do nothing. It’s easier to watch mindless television. It’s easier to turn down an invitation from a friend. It’s easier to not have the uncomfortable conversation you need to have.
It’s easier to swim with the current than it is to swim against it. But happiness doesn’t always lie down stream.
Are you going to continue to wait for happiness to find you?
Carrie
