One of the most important aspects of life is happiness. It’s hard to wake up the next day if you have nothing to look forward to. You can always be happy no matter the situation, income, or location. I have always wanted to travel worldwide and I don’t like being in the same place for extended amounts of time. I live in Goshen, Indiana, a town/city in the midwest. One of the least interesting places I have ever experienced, it’s almost as if no one likes Goshen. Yet they find themselves living here for the rest of their lives here. Goshen may be boring and one of my least favorite places I’ve seen, but I still stay happy living here. One day I will leave and see the world, but until then I’ll find my happiness here. I’ll teach you how I stay happy with small changes.
Good Music
The greatest place in the world is the ocean. The waves lapping against the shore deliver white foam to your feet. The crystal clear water filled with colorful fish and squawking birds. The violent undertow forces you out to sea just to throw you right back to the shore.
Latin music transports me to the shore, the smell of fish and restaurants along the shore. Filled with dancing people working up their tans until they realize they forgot to take off their sunglasses and now look like an idiot. Find your music. Whether its latin party music, 1980s rock, or blasting The Weekend in your car.
Meditation
When your annoying friend won’t stop pissing you off and the list of things to do grows larger and larger. I struggle to keep my calm. I want to explode and fall apart in the middle of it all. Meditation soothes these moments, I’m not recommending you sit down in the middle of your workplace and start thinking. That would be pretty funny. Instead, spend a few minutes in the morning or evening with your thoughts and only your thoughts. Focus on your breathing an drelax or repeat a phrase in your head.
Meditation will help control those emotions and give you a sense of calm throughout the day.
Practice Gratitude
In life it’s extremely easy to look at the downsides. The teacher yelling at you for not doing your work or seeing grey clouds over your head instead of sunshine. I’ve begun learning to look past these. Try every morning, after showering or waking up. To name 3 to 5 things that you are thankful for. Life’s a lot easier when you start your day off being happy. It teaches you to look for the good in your situation not the bad.
You can be thankful for the sun outside your window. The birds chirping outside the apartment complex. You’re neighbor being quiet during the night for once. The great dinner you had the day before. There is an infinite list of things to be thankful for. Even when it seems like life is just trying to kick your ass. Start your morning off with 3 to 5 good things.
Colder Showers
In my opinion waking up in the morning can be a difficult thing, especially if you have a list of difficult tasks looking you in the face. I wake up at 6:00 A.M every morning (except for weekends). To sit in school for the next seven hours, get back home tired, and repeat the next day. It’s hard to get things done, waking up early with the same boring schedule. I find myself daydreaming much of the day and losing focus.
The solution is a cold shower. A cold shower repeated again and again leads to better energy, concentration, skin, alertness, mood, and great hair. A cold shower wakes you up in the morning and makes you enjoy your warm clothes so much more. It may be hard to get in at first but you’ll thank yourself later feeling more energized and focused. Start the morning off with a cold shower.
Get Good Sleep
Sleep may be the 2nd greatest thing in the world. Waking up after a good night of sleep, is like entering heaven. Getting enough sleep leads to better mood and reduced stress. As a teen aim for 8 to 10 hours and 7+ as an adult. The younger the person the more sleep you need. Everybody knows what it’s like to get up after a sleepless night. Not fun.
Get your 8 hours of sleep and enjoy the fruits of a good sleep the next morning. Take that phone and put it in another room at night. Put down the work and go to bed, there will always be tomorrow. It will give you energy and a sense of happiness.
Structure Upcoming Day
It’s always freaky to wake up in the morning with a gigantic list of tasks and no idea how to complete them. Try to add some structure to your day. I personally write the 6 most important tasks the night before. Then complete them one at a time the next day starting from one down to six. You shouldn’t go all out and structure every minute of your day, keep it spontaneous. But it relieves a lot of stress to have some sort of plan.
Another option is an Eisenhower Box. Create 4 quadrants and across the top label the columns Urgent and Not Urgent. Then on the side label Important and Not Important. Quadrant 1 is the important tasks that should be done immediately and quadrant 2 are not urgent but important and should be scheduled into your day. Quadrant 3 is urgent but not important and if possible done by someone else. Quadrant 4 is a distraction and should only be done if everything else is complete.
Give your day a little bit of structure and achieve a little more happiness.
Meet New People
I would call myself an introverted person, a year ago I was unhealthily introverted. I used to think I was being shut out and left alone by my friend group. But I realized I was the problem. I said no when they asked me, so they stopped asking me. I thought not being around people was cool and I shouldn’t hang around dumb people.
I was just making excuses. You don’t have to be the center of attention, just try and make friends. When they ask you to come to dinner with them or the movies. Don’t say no, accept the invitation with gratitude. You will be a lot happier being with great people. There’s nothing wrong with a break but don’t let that break last forever.
Lower Screen Time
The feeling of a wasted day after scrolling on Tik Tok is one of the biggest detriments to my happiness. Knowing that I could have been reading a book or working on a blog post getting one step closer to my dream. Instead, I sat on the couch all day scrolling through 30-second videos. I download certain apps like Offscreen that tell me how long I’ve been on and how many times I’ve picked up my phone. This has helped me lower my screen time. When I put away my phone and remove social media I get a lot more happy. You don’t compare yourself to all of those people posting about the best moments in their lives. It brings you down and makes you feel worthless. Put your phone down and get some work done and be happier.
Benefits of Lowered Screen Time
Conclusion
Big changes can make your life a lot better but it’s the small things that can really make you happier. Starting the day off with a feeling of gratitude or accomplishment can lead to a much better day. Getting that extra 2 hours of sleep leads to a lot more happiness or that cold shower in the morning. Make these small little changes and life will get better and better.