We have all gone through those stages in life where happiness can be hard to come by.
It can feel like no matter what you try to do or how good your life actually is, you just can’t seem to break out of the mental rut you are in.
When you are going through a negative patch in life, it becomes quite easy to rob yourself of any happiness.
But just as easy as it is to allow your habits to steal your happiness, it’s also relatively easy to find a sense of happiness as well.
Overcoming Challenging Times
For me, this past week has been a bit of a challenging one. Life has just gotten to be incredibly stressful for me. My anxiety has been peaking, I have felt this weird “out-of-body” feeling, and just don’t quite feel all there mentally.
There are going to be patches where we all experience these emotions.
But that doesn’t mean that we need to make life miserable for ourselves and/or revert back to our old habits.
Unfortunately, though, this is what many do. When they go through a rough patch, they revert back to their old ways and what feels comfortable.
Instead of falling into this trap, do your best to keep your head up and move forward. Don’t let negative habits steal your happiness. Remember, nothing lasts forever. Stress and anxiety will come and go far beyond today. They’re just part of life.
5 Habits That Will Steal Your Happiness
So today I want to do something different. As I said, this week has been an emotional one to say the least. I want to share with you some of the negative habits that I have fallen victim to, and how I’m trying to get myself out (how you can avoid them).
1. Listening to the negative voices in your head.
Everybody does this.
You wake up, don’t feel quite right, and start listening to all of the negative voices and thoughts that pass through your mind. Before you know it, your mind is consumed by these thoughts and you slowly start to believe them.
But ask yourself something. What good do these thoughts do you? How do these thoughts benefit you? How do they help improve the ONE life you are blessed to have?
They don’t.
What to do instead:
Instead of allowing these negative thoughts to consume you, write down 5 of your strengths. If you can’t focus on what your strengths are, write down 5 things you accomplished over the week.
Next, keep this list in your pocket. Every time you start thinking negative thoughts, pull this list out and look at it. It will help you to see all that you are capable of and have achieved.
You might be thinking that this sounds too childish for you, and if so, it’s your choice. You can choose to stay stuck in the negatives, or you can choose to do everything in your power to focus on the good in life.
2. Feeling overly sympathetic for yourself.
Yeah, you may be going through a challenging time right now, but so is the majority of the rest of the world. It does you no good to feel overly sorry for yourself where you aren’t willing to change your ways and take responsibility for where you are at in life. The truth is, you are right where you are allowing yourself to be.
What to do instead:
Focus on the good.
Let me share with you a little story…
My stress and anxiety this week is stemming from work. I’m not at risk of losing my job, but we are going through a software change. That’s where my stress is coming from… a software change.
I was on Instagram a few nights back and saw somebody who lost their home to a fire. The sad part for me is that she had the strength to say that everything happens for a reason and that it was going to be alright.
And here I am complaining about work…
The truth is, I am blessed to have a job when so many Americans are without one. I am hella blessed to be just 27 years young and be in the top 1 percent of wealthiest individuals in the world. I am blessed to have a family who loves me, a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and a healthy body.
Sometimes you just have to be willing to put things into perspective. Perception is everything. You can either choose to focus on the bad, or you can choose to focus on the good. Whatever you choose, it’s likely going to become your reality.
3. Letting the opinions of others get to you.
When it comes to opinions, everybody has one.
I will admit that I sometimes take the opinions of others all too seriously. I start to believe them and let slowly take over how I feel about myself.
What we all need to remember is that the opinions of others simply doesn’t matter. How one person sees you is going to be completely different than how somebody else will see you. No matter what you do, you will simply never be able to please everybody.
What to do instead:
Let it go and stop caring about what others think of you.
As hard as that may be, remember that this is your one life to live. Other people have their own lives to live. Don’t let them live yours for you as well.
Stay true to yourself no matter what others say. You have to do what makes you happy and what is going to lead you to living your best life. So just brush off what others say and only focus on the positive thoughts that are passing through your mind.
4. Not giving yourself time to rest and relax.
Yeah, this is my biggest weakness. I would say that I have more of a challenging time resting and relaxing than I do with anything in my life.
My mind is constantly racing at a rapid pace and I keep piling on goals and dreams that I want to achieve 🙂
Is this a bad thing?
Yes! When you don’t give yourself an adequate amount of time to rest and relax, all you are doing is hurting yourself.
What to do instead:
Instead, if you want to find more happiness and achieve more of your goals and dreams in life, give yourself time to rest and relax.
This is going to do 2 things for you.
First, it’s going to help you feel rejuvenated so that you can give your maximum and full potential to your goals and your dreams.
Second, it’s going to make you focus on what’s important and will motivate you. When you separate yourself from constantly doing something, it forces you to think about what it is that you want to be doing and what’s important to you. Then, this leaves you feeling more motivated to get back after your goals and your dreams once you have relaxed for a bit.
Plus, it’s just a healthy practice to find balance and to allow yourself to regroup.
5. Never willing to try new things
Ahhhh, another thing I am incredibly guilty of.
Okay, it’s no secret that I am a creature of habit. I have a routine pretty much for every day of the week and stick to it.
But, I will admit that this sometimes gets in the way of trying new things, making new memories, and being able to live my life to the fullest.
What to do instead:
Instead, if you don’t want this habit to steal your happiness, find a balance between your routine and trying new things.
The truth is, life isn’t going to get any better if we are never willing to try new things. Start small. Take a different route to work, try eating a new food, and as you progress, start tackling larger things to try.
Also, remind yourself of past times you tried something new. Odds are it didn’t go the way you expected, and more times than not, you probably enjoyed it. If you had fun, use that as an indicator that you should be trying more new things.
Before You Go
Whatever you do, don’t let your old bad habits steal your happiness. Avoid them at any and all costs.
Life is meant to be enjoyed! Sure, there are many other meanings of life as well, but if you aren’t enjoying your life, what are you doing? What’s the point of anything if you don’t enjoy it?
This is your life to live. Don’t let bad habits steal your happiness and get in the way of you being able to live your best life. Focus on the good, how blessed you are, how strong you are, and I assure you that you will live a better and happier life.
Michael Bonnell
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