Chasing Happiness

We are always trying to chase something or the other. It’s become a mantra that in order to be happy, you need to chase it by some aspects, which can include motivating ourselves too. But here’s the more simple one : If you want to be happy, you need to stop chasing happiness.

Chasing happiness is a way in which we are trying to keep ourselves sustained by “positive” factors of our life, rather than adjusting the baseline as a whole which is simple. It’s motivating ourselves with the hope of achieving a feeling which kind of is not just healthy, but kind of impossible.

According to Psychologists, this chase is the reason of increased stress, anxiety and unhappiness. We spend so much time chasing it, that we don’t even realize that’s its already there, that happiness actually lies in embracing small moments of life and living it. When most people are asked what they want out of life, they say “We want to be happy”, including me, but what we don’t realize it is, that it isn’t a goal to be achieved and a trophy to be showcased.

Every person has his/her own mileage, and therefore can have certain degree of happiness and different ideals of happiness. What may be making happy today, doesn’t mean it will make you feel the same tomorrow.

Why do we chase happiness ? From the young age, we have been taught that good job, financial stability, being successful would make us happy, the social norms and expectations that are ingrained in us over the years, actually makes us believe in the idea of happiness without lookin deep within themselves.

“Pursuing happiness, and I did, and I still do, is not at all the same as being happy — which I think is fleeting, dependent on circumstances…If the sun is shining, stand in it — -yes, yes, yes. Happy times are great, but happy times pass — they have to because time passes. The pursuit of happiness is more elusive; it is life-long, and it is not goal-centered. What you are pursuing is meaning — — a meaningful life. There’s the hap — the fate, the draw that is yours, and it isn’t fixed, but changing the course of the stream, or dealing new cards, whatever metaphor you want to use — -that’s going to take a lot of energy. There are times when it will go so wrong that you will barely be alive, and times when you realize that being barely alive, on your own terms, is better than living a bloated half-life on someone else’s terms. The pursuit isn’t all or nothing — — it’s all AND nothing.”
― Jeanette Winterson

Instead of chasing happiness try making it, it’s okay not wanting to feel other people’s emotions, try living in the moment, be carefree. If you try to force it, you will end up being miserable more, don’t set the bar too high, and never let your failures and accomplishments be equated by your emotions. It’s okay not to be externally happy, but focusing on internal peace and calm. Chasing something makes a person looks desperate, so instead of having a downfall, change your point of focus and pamper yourself instead.

Just like in Disney movie Soul, Don’t miss out on the joys of life, Life is full of possibilities. You just need to know where to look.