By: Leo Fontana
Happiness is something that every human on Earth is looking for. However, have you ever stopped and asked yourself, “Am I happy?” or are you asking yourself, “Am I just looking for happiness?” I believe most of us are looking for happiness instead of living in the moment and being happy.
There are many people that associate happiness to achieving a goal. In Welded for example, many of us say “I’ll be happy once I run a mile under 7 minutes” or “I’ll be happy when I hit a 300 lb. back squat” or “I’ll be happy when I beat so and so in a work out.” If you want to use a more real-world example, “I’ll be happy if I get that promotion/raise” or “if I buy this specific car/big house.” In all reality associating happiness with a goal is a lie.
As soon as you achieve the goal that you thought would make you happy, I’m sure you’ll be very excited about it and maybe even HAPPY but I bet after a few weeks, few days or even few minutes, you’ll be setting a new goal and saying the same thing, “When I achieve this next one I’ll be happy.”
A lot of us live our lives thinking about the next step, the next big thing, which isn’t a bad thing. I truly believe it is very important to set goals and achieve them. We’re used to being raised with this mentality that, you need to go to school so you can go to college, so you can get a good job, so you can have a nice house and support your wife and kids, so you can retire and THEN be happy. Don’t you think this a weird way of living, even though that’s how most of us were raised, it’s a mentality of not living in the moment but always waiting for that one day you retire and then be happy, my question to you is: Why wait so long to be happy? Do it now!
A great way to start is to change your thought process and view of everything you do. Many of us will say, “Oh today I HAVE to go to the gym, I HAVE to pick up my kids, I HAVE to go to work, I HAVE to eat heathy.” I challenge you to think differently and to pay attention on how much this affects you day to day and your happiness. Start saying, “I GET to go to the gym, I GET to pick up my kids, I GET to go to work, I GET to eat healthy.” We are so blessed with many things in our life that we take for granted. We don’t realize how many people would love to go to a gym, or to go to work, or to pick up their kids, or to eat healthy or eat at all.
Once you start changing your mindset and attitude on things you begin to start noticing how much better your day is. You’ll start realizing and looking for positive things that you GET to do next. The more positive we are, the better things and situations will be, don’t look at everything as “glass half empty,” look at the amazingness of things and how lucky you are. You GET to do it!
This is something I personally have been doing the past couple of weeks and I can’t tell you the amazing difference it has been making. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes, I would love to keep you accountable.