How to be Happy by Not Giving a F*CK

I want to ask you a question. Are you happy? 

How are we truly able to tell if we are genuinely happy? Is it with the things we have, the accomplishments we make, or simply the fact that we are here on this Earth with the ability to do anything we set our minds to. I hate to bring up social media, but social media truly messes up our perceptions of true happiness. 

I've always considered myself pretty smart with a decent amount of common sense, so I never really paid attention to the images or memes on social media portraying these insanely happy people. It’s like celebrities; we see them and assume they are happy because they are famous and can buy anything their heart desires. However, a lot of celebrities claim to be depressed or unhappy because of their celebrity status. The same goes for social media; everybody puts out their best selves and others interpret that as their life every day. People bragging about how much money they are making, the trips they are taking, and how great their boyfriend or girlfriend is. You can’t help but to compare your life to theirs. 

If this is something you are guilty of, I want you to really think and ask yourself one question; Am I happy? If your answer is yes, then great! If your answer is yes, but you’ll be happier once you get that job or go on that trip or finally go on a date with that guy you’ve been crushing on, then you my friend may not truly be happy. However, it is important to realize that you control your happiness and just because you are going to be making loads of money or traveling to Greece does not mean you’ll feel happier once those things happen. Of course, you’ll feel excited and happy at that very moment, but eventually the excitement ends and so does your trip and then your back to your old self, wishing you had more in life.

 When I say, you control your happiness I mean that it is imperative you remain present in your life and focus on what is in front of you and happening to you now, not what could possibly happen in the future. Never deter from your goals, but just know once some of those goals are accomplished, you may not feel any different and your state of happiness remains the same. There a people in this world with nothing and they carry a joy for life that no amount of materialistic things can replace. 

You control your happiness. Everyone is on different paths and you cannot focus on what someone else has and what you are lacking because with that attitude, true happiness will not be achieved. Another way to achieve this is by not giving a f**k about the small things. Stop giving a f**k about what others are doing and worry about what you want to be doing. 

However, don’t just think about what you want to be doing, DO IT! 

I just finished a book by Mark Manson called “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” and I really suggest you read it. The book allows you to self-reflect and question where you are in life through witty stories and foul language. I’ll leave you with a quote from the book…

True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving. Happiness is a constant work in progress, because solving problems is a constant work-in-progress- the solutions to today’s problems will lay the foundation for tomorrow’s problems, and so on. 

Justyce