There are days when you’re happy and full of light – days full of laughter, of peace, the once in awhile stress free moments living life full of love. There are other days where everything feels like it’s going wrong and you feel drained even though you weren’t really productive at all. One version of you is happy and one of you isn’t. Let’s figure out why.
There are different aspects to life – school/work, friends, family, spiritual/personal development, health, play, etc. Do yourself a favor.
Categorize your life
What actually gives you life? Who or what makes you happy? Where do you feel alive? Some people feel alive after a day of productivity when they can rest at watch some well-deserved Netflix. Others feel happiest in the presence of people of they love. Others still feel like they’re thriving when they’re tackling their personal/ spiritual goals.
As I go through college, I really find happiness in a few ways – which most often doesn’t correlate to school. I find my happy in being surrounded by encouraging people who have the same values as me. I find my happy writing for the blog, creating unique graphics for posts, and clicking the upload button. I find my happy in reading a good book on a rainy day with some hot tea cuddled with my teddy bear. I also can’t forget a game changer – ice cream!
Now that I know where my happy comes from and where yours is – what are you actually doing? Are you spending time in the places you find your happy?
Catalog your current life
What do you do for your morning and night routine? What are your daily activities? Who are you surrounding yourself with? Often, if you want to be productive, you have to have a good start to your day to get you on track. If you want to prioritize rest in the morning, you should be making time to journal or just sip your coffee in peace. Use a time tracker to figure out what exactly you’re doing and how you feel doing it.
For me – am I spending time surrounded by friends? Or I spending time holed up in my dorm room doing homework? Am I blogging or creating graphics? Or I stressing over that test that didn’t go well, and launching into the next thing without fully examining the last?
Compare and Adjust
If you are so unhappy, what the heck are you doing? Get out there and make some changes to how you spend your time. Acknowledge where you are. Figure out the root of how you feel – it could be an activity, the people you surround yourself with. Ask yourself what could you remove and how would it affect how you feel.
Do you feel light when you dance to music? Do you feel heavy being in class that you, in your heart, know you don’t enjoy?
There are certain things that you do or places where you are that bring a smile to your face and lift your eyes up. Don’t ignore these impulses.
They are telling where you want to be.
We need to acknowledge that there are things in life we need to do, certain activities we don’t look forward to but are needed. In that way, we need to change our mindset towards those activities. What does that task contribute? Why do you need to do it? Figure out what joy could spring from that activity.
For example, I don’t enjoy math. It’s often a reflection of a world that doesn’t exist – however, I know that studying math serves a greater purpose. I am moving outside of my comfort zone and learning what I need to for my major.
We are in control of our happiness. Yes, there are things we need to do, but we have to prioritize the things that are life giving – whether it’s our friends or family, alone time, or etc.
When we prioritize the things that matter, we find that the things we do and the people we’re with leave us a little happier every time.
Signing off,
Gigi
What are some activities that make you happy? Tell me below.
Studying Life with Gigi 