It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life, especially in today’s busy world. With so much to worry about, from work and bills to family and social life, even those who seem to have it all together can wake up and feel like their lives are falling apart. When this happens, it’s extremely important that you hit the brakes, take a look at your life, and think about what you can change so that you’re actually living and not just going through the motions.
1. Define success on your terms
We’re told that success is a big house, two cars in a garage, and 2.5 children to a family. While I think most people would be happy with that, that same majority of people absolutely despises doing what they have to do to get there. Most people work so much that they barely have time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. And when they do have the time, they’re so exhausted that they’d rather just fall asleep in front of the TV than take their family out to dinner.
Figure out what makes you feel happy and successful, rather than what society tells you will make you so. Live your life every day so that you’re working toward meeting the goals you’ve set for your own life, rather than running the same rat race day after day.
2. Embrace the positives and negatives in life
It sounds easy to embrace the positives, right? Too often, it’s when things are going well that we don’t recognize it. Celebrate every victory in life, no matter how small. It will help you stay positive when things start to go wrong.
When things do go wrong, don’t think your world is crumbling down on you. Instead, look to what you can learn from the situation. Learn from your mistakes and failures, and persevere through unfortunate bad times. You’ll come out of it a much stronger person, and will be able to face the next obstacle in your life with a clear mindset.
3. Control only what you can
You may have heard the Serenity Prayer. There are things you can change, and if you’re unhappy with the way things are going, you should definitely do what you can to fix them. There are things you can’t change and, no matter what you do, you’ll just have to accept that you’re powerless against them. But the wisdom is in knowing which category a certain situation falls into. Don’t let something beyond your control keep you up at night — it will only serve to drive you crazy.
4. Don’t get frazzled
Life is full of little annoyances that we can’t control (see above). If we paid attention to every little thing that got in the way of us having a “good” day, we’d never be happy. You’re going to spill your coffee sometimes. You’re going to hit every red light on the way home from work some days. The cash register is never working right, it wasn’t just your bad luck. Once you recognize that Murphy’s Law is one of the only constants in life, you’ll realize things could be much worse, and you’ll be able to let the little things fall by the wayside.
5. Love yourself
If you don’t love yourself, no one else will. On that same token, you should never compare your life to anyone else’s. You have no idea what they’ve been through in their life, and they have no idea what you’ve gone through in yours. And don’t worry if other people have something negative to say about you. People will talk. But it’s those people who are unhappy enough with their own lives that they have to find the negatives in other people’s lives to make themselves feel better. Live your own life, and love every minute of it.
Featured photo credit: Positivity – MartaZ* via farm9.staticflickr.com
