Getting back to happy

Believe it or not, it is somewhat hard for me to write this. When I first started dealing with my struggles six years ago, even up until six months ago, I would have laughed so hard at myself for writing any of this. I would have called myself soft, a wimp, and many other inappropriate names that I do not feel like repeating.

That is simply because I had never focused on being happy before. I was naive and close minded. See, I didn’t think of happiness and positivity as skill sets in life. And I definitely didn’t think that they would be something that I would ever be practicing.

But have you ever noticed that if you don’t practice something for a while, then you tend to suck at it? I mean, I remember jumping on a bike last summer and almost taking a digger straight into the pavement because I hadn’t rode a bike in years. I was struggling with something that I used to do on a daily basis as a kid, and something that I nearly perfected. Simply because I had not practiced it in years.

So why am I sharing an analogy about riding a bike? Well, I have really been working hard and focusing on rebuilding happiness and positivity in my life over the last week. Yes, I am a firm believer that happiness and positivity are choices that we make in life, as well as skills that we need to actively practice. If we are not willing to practice them, then we are going to end up tipping over or slipping backwards.

Normally, I am the type of person who wakes up in the morning, smiles in the mirror at how good looking I am (I am only kidding), listens to daily uplifting podcasts, and tries to kick ass at everything. I choose to be happy because it is not only better for me, but because I believe that it will lead me to making a greater impact in the world.

For about a week or two, I was really slacking on making happiness and positivity a priority in my life. With the end of September being busy at work, to my sister’s wedding the following weekend, my priorities had been elsewhere. But rest assured, that short stretch of time was enough to motivate me once again to start focusing on what matters to me in life.

I don’t know why, but I wasn’t following my daily rituals. I wasn’t listening to my usual podcasts, wasn’t reading a lot of uplifting blogs, and I wasn’t taking the time to allow myself to breathe. As a result, I was slipping back into old habits. I was becoming somewhat unhappy with myself and with any little thing that would irritate me.

It was the middle of last week when I was becoming furious with myself.

Why I was becoming unhappy?

What is causing me to be so tired and unmotivated?

Why I was feeling down again?

After thinking of how I found happiness and positivity in the first place, I realized that I already knew the answer. It was because I was not focusing on taking care of me, and because I wasn’t focusing on my priorities.

When I eventually realized what I was doing, or rather what I wasn’t doing, I did everything to shift my focus on being happy and positive again. The podcasts have been going every second that I am in the car. I have been reading positive blogs on a daily basis, and I have simply been taking more time for myself and appreciating my surroundings.

Every morning, I have been focusing on starting my day on a high note, and walking around with the soul intentions of having a better day than yesterday. I have been focusing on being as happy, and as positive as possible. It is all that has been on my mind.

Just like any skill, if you want to become better at something, you need to practice it. As cliche, lame, childish, or as obvious as it might sound, happiness and positivity are no exceptions. If you want to be happier and more positive in life, you need to practice doing so.

I have realized that I am the happiest in my life when I focus on being happy. I am a more positive person when I focus on positivity. Seems logical, right? But yet it still wasn’t something that I believed in until I actually tried it.

Even though I have found happiness and positivity in my life again, I learned something very important. I learned that they are areas of my life that I need to continue to prioritize. Just because what I am doing today is making me happy and positive, doesn’t mean that it will bring me happiness and positivity tomorrow, or the next day. It is something that I need to prioritize every single day of my life.

This goes for everyone and everything in life. No matter who you are, no matter what it is that you want, if you want it badly enough, you need to make whatever that something is a priority in your life. Whether it is rebuilding happiness and positivity, rebuilding a relationship, rebuilding a business, if you want it bad enough, make it a priority.

Michael Bonnell

10/16/2018

 

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