When I have been the least happy with my life, I've either been broke, super stressed, or way too busy.
I'd be willing to bet most unhappy people have similar problems.
There is a lot of uncertainty in life now. The job market is very unstable, the housing market is rising, marriage has less value, and even a college degree can't guarantee any sort of success.
Maybe it's time to take some pills.
I know that sounds weird for me to say that, but these are either the blue pills or the red pills.
The blue pills represent artificial reality and you can take those and be depressed about life and keep things as they are.
The red pills represent a new reality. You see the world for what it is, and you can change anything you want.
Remember the 4 keys to happiness from Tony Hsieh on last weeks blog.
1. Happiness requires you having perceived control over your life.
2. Happiness requires feeling that you are making progress. That'll be different for everyone depending on your goals.
3. Happiness requires having relationships and connections to other people.
4. Happiness requires having a vision bigger than yourself.
Here are three things to consider to start making changes. For one, any external changes you want to make, they have to begin with internal changes. "You" have to be different.
First, you have to be healthy.
All the pieces of your life depend on you being healthy. Breaking the cycles of bad habits is of the most important internal change you can make.
Start with our 50 free online classes.
Health is one of two things you can't buy when you need it.
After you sign up for the classes here's a quick list of some other things you can do.
-No TV
-No newspapers / news feeds online
-No complaining
-Read something uplifting
-Start a new hobby
-Take a class
-Best of all, plan an adventure.
You have but one life. Is there anything wrong with trying to make it more pleasurable? But, there is an old saying. For change to occur, the pain to change has to be less than the pain to remain the same.
Second, lets take on busyness
This seems to be an epidemic in our culture. People are busy, and not necessarily productive. Checking email, checking Facebook every 10 minutes, playing Words with Friends are all distractions.
Heck, I even see people racing to a red light so they stop for a few more seconds to send a text.
All these little distractions through out the day, contribute to unproductive busyness. This can lead to feeling out of control and your time is being used by others.
This can be the first step to being happier... getting control of your time.
One more thing you can do, make your priority list the night before. Only work on your highest priorities. You'll get more done and have more control.
If your serious about making changes you will likely need to get better at saying "no". People will make endless attempts to steal your time.
The third, and possibly hardest thing to do to make life more enjoyable, is SLOW down.
Slow motion makes life better. It doesn't have to be "The Matrix" movie slow motion.
It would be cool when the bullets are flying, to see them coming and bend left, then right, and watch them fly by in slow motion?
I'm really talking about appreciating the moment.
Is it possible to live a slower life and actually enjoy it. Absolutely. Now, it wouldn’t be fun to actually live and move in tree sloth time. What I want is the perception of time to downshift into a lower gear.
Time, itself, slows down when you do.
Talk to almost anyone older than you, and they all say the same thing. “The older you get, the faster time goes.”
Every part of our lives to built around being as productive as possible, or at least as busy as possible. Everyone feels more important if they are busy, or appear to be busy. I’ve seen elementary kids with planners.
If you don’t have much experience in simple living and slow living you may just have to take a vacation to kick start a new out look on life.
Not able to take a trip. Start by watching the sunset tonight. I rarely meet someone who has sat down and enjoyed the sunset in the last month.
In summary,
1...Work on your health
2...Identify your time wasters
3...Slow down. Plan a trip. Watch the sunset. When your brain slows down and isn't distracted, it can actually give you a lot of answers.
If you ask yourself the 4 happiness questions above and don't have any answers, then your brain needs time to figure it out.