Happiness

Advice #3

This is a huge one. I'll probably be posting more about happiness later on, the more I find out about how to find it. Because I haven't been very successful lately. However, I have found some things I'd like to share...
plus, I think I need this. Maybe seeing it all written out will help me, and hopefully it'll help you.

Be open-minded.
Going through your day with an open mind can help you tremendously. Say, you spill all the milk on the floor making breakfast, and while cleaning it up you burn your breakfast? If you look at this open-mindedly, your it'll make your day so much better, because by the end of the day you'll know that you had a good day because you didn't let the bad day happen. 

Control how things affect you. 
This one can be dangerous. If you try to control everything too much, it just leads to mental exhaustion, and lack of control. So try to control little things, like that negative thought in the back of your mind, or something that's been bothering you.

Face it.
Face your problems. Face your fears, right now. Face what pissed you off today, because if you don't, it'll bother you so much more than it would if you just confront it now. Are you afraid you're fat? Don't ignore the fact that you might be, do something about it. Are you afraid your boyfriend is cheating on you? Don't ignore this. Ask him about it, it'll bring you closer. Face the fact that life is unpredictable, because you really don't know what's going to happen next.

Go with plan C.
As in, plan "c what happens". Again, life is extremely unpredictable, and we could drive ourselves crazy trying to control what's going to happen. Because again, with control, there's an extreme lack of control. It takes a very controlled person to be controlled.

Take life as it comes. 
Going along with plan c, taking life as it comes and handling situations as they come keeps you calm and level-headed. I can't tell you how much I see people driving themselves absolutely crazy planning ahead, because 1. They're afraid something might go wrong because they're thinking about it too much, and 2. Because it's stressful thinking about what could happen. The what if's in life are a huge cause of stress, and stress is one of the biggest things that counteracts happiness.

Laugh.
Make jokes about everything. Do something so f*cking weird it freaks the whole building out. Laughing means you're having fun, and if you can always find something to laugh about, then you're going to be content.

Set goals. 
Don't put off something that bothers you, again, face it. Set goals for yourself and try to accomplish something new every chance you get. If you don't get the chance, make the chance and go after it. Accomplishing goals--even if it's something small, like getting through your homework in a timely manner or without complaints--gives you a feeling of empowerment, and it gives you motivation to go out and do things.

Experience everything. 
Go out with a friend you normally wouldn't have, ride the Ring of Fire at the fair, give your number out to somebody, compliment somebody, pay for a stranger's groceries, stare at somebody in an elevator to freak them out. Do anything, and do everything. I don't care if you don't want to or if it's bad. It's more life experience, and you're going to want to get as much as you can in this life. You won't believe how short life is when your 40th birthday comes, so ask yourself, do you want to be the kind of person that did everything you could as a kid, and have tons of stories to tell your grandkids? Or do you want to be the person that when you look back at your life when you're 80, say "I wish I had done this while I had the chance."?

Regret nothing.
Don't let your past hold you back. If you were abused, raped, bullied, in a serious accident, a drug addict, anything, don't let it stop you from doing anything in the future. Again, it's just more life experience, and if you made it out alive then you are a stronger person for that. The more you've gone through, the more you'll be able to relate with people. And the more bonds you make, the better your life will be.

Don't chase happiness.
The more you try to find happiness and the more you work towards it, the less you'll be able to find it. Don't look at happiness as a future goal, experience it now. Find little things you enjoy, like the way your cat twitches his ears, or the way your mom hums as she cooks, or even how f*cking cute that little monster out of the 50 cent machine is. Find little glorious things that make you smile during the day, and I promise you it'll make you so much happier. If you try to chase happiness, you'll fall into a pit of depression. It's actually proven that people with depression are the people that want happiness so badly. But the problem is that they want it, but they don't find it. They go after it, instead of see it. There are millions of reasons to smile everyday, and bad days do happen. But my advice to you, my beautiful stranger, is to find something to be happy about every day. Don't strive to be happy, just be happy, and I promise you, your life will be so genuine and special, that it doesn't matter what else happens. Because as long as your happy, what else really matters?

-Evie