10 Things That Make Me Happy
Happiness is quite subjective, and it’s certainly something to breathe for
The average life expectancy for humans is 79 years. For 79 years, you surely want to chase things that make you happy. So these are 10 things that make me happy. Happy reading!
1. Books
How do I elaborate on the pleasure of reading? Reading pauses the time for me. It transports me into different situations and sometimes makes me feel like I am the protagonist. It compels me to think and the best part, it makes me question myself- Now what? What would I do? When will I write so well? and so on.
Every book, I have read, shifted my perspective. Books build tolerance and acceptance towards disparate worlds of thought. Books bring topics to the light, which never kissed the lips of school teachers or families. Important topics related to life were always ended untouched in schools and off the family dinners because they were thought to be inappropriate or ‘dirty’. Thank god, books are shameless!
Every book shakes off stardust in your life. Somedays you just don’t want to be yourself, you want to feel different or view differently. This is when books spring in, and vicarious pleasure kicks in.
2. Dogs
When dogs step in, depression steps out.
Ask any psychologist, and you will end up with the same answer- they are good for your emotional wellbeing. It’s well established that dogs are lovely, loyal, devoted, and most importantly cuddly. Who would not want a best friend with such sparkling qualities?
Although they drive you crazy with their continual barks in the middle of the night, or with their constant habit of scratching your sofa with their not-so-manicured nails, you will admit at the end of the day they are worth it.
Dogs are so full of beans that their energy makes you invigorating. They color your life with paws, happiness, and sheer joy.
3. Journal writing
If I don’t write down then it didn’t happen for me. Writing convinces me that I have lived that fleeting moment. I’ve always this feeling that the youth is a volatile thing and it will evaporate before you can even realize. So, writing helps me to take a pause and sniff the fresh pages, which will hold my youth.
Also, I write down to find logic behind my action, mood, or decision. As I write, previously untapped thoughts begin to flow; it helps me to know myself more intimately. In simple words, I write to realize.
4. Food
I love Pizzas and North Indian food: Butter Naans, Shahi Paneer, Chole Bhature, Pav Bhaji, and the list can go for the whole day.
Food helps me cope with the world. Filling my stomach with finger-licking food makes me full, emotionally and physically.
P.S:- You are not foodie until and unless your parents make fun of you in front of your uncles and aunties for eating the whole family size pizza all alone.
5. Silence and Solitude
Born in the roaring city, I have always envied places where you can listen to nature and feel the pleasure of soothing silence.
Solitude teaches you about yourself and silence provides you realization. They store plenty of epiphanies for me to find my way back to myself.
6. Challenging the outdated thinking
As harder as it may seem to voice your contrasting views to family members, harder is to challenge it with actions.
Here an anecdote I’d like to share:
The first time I asked my parents to let me seek a therapist, I was treated with a flat no. My mom was worried more about log kya kehenge ( What will people say).
I had to bring the mental health on the table; I nonchalantly informed her what therapists do and what they don’t ( She had an image of them giving shocks and all established disinformation). She did let me go, but with a hesitant yes.
And then only yesterday, I heard her talking to her sister about a familiar who killed himself. She informed her he should have gone to the therapist, he should have asked for help. This paradigm shift took a while but it was worth it.
7. Volunteering
I never thought volunteering could be informative as well as fun. I have gathered personal stories that help me to stay on the ground with modesty.
Volunteering teaches you values that can save this burning world: Selflessness, honesty, humility, and gratitude.
8. Growth
In one of my solitude sessions, I realized how much fewer credits I have given to myself; On one hand, I try to treat people with more love and kindness, and on the other hand, I subconsciously treat myself with less love and lesser kindness.
We all should acknowledge the personal growth, however small it may be: I feel proud to say that I am a better person than I was a year ago.
9. Traveling
Who doesn’t like traveling? No lies, I admit that I have not traveled much yet. But wherever I have been, I try my best to walk under their skies for long enough for them to remember me.
Wanderlust is untapped for now, but I await fervently to walk on the land of every country in the world.
10. Water
I have a penchant for water bodies: The cool rivers, beaches where waves dance merrily, and oceans where the sky has an alter ego.
I find water as pure magic; after all, not everyone or everything holds the power to show you who you are.
