Becoming Happy Is A Choice
It’s just one that takes a lot of work and no one else can do for you
As a mental health worker, I’m regularly asked by clients to just give them the secret. Please, just tell me how to be happy, they say, please tell me how to fix it. I wish I could, and that’s what I generally tell them. Often a quick solution is all they want, but it isn’t what they need.
I get that. I’ve been in their shoes, walked miles in them, and I understand that feeling well. When I was at my lowest, all I wanted was a fast and easy way to solve it. I thought I would give anything to feel better in the months following my breakdown, but that isn't entirely true when I look back now.
What I wanted was to wake up one morning with the weight lifted from my mind; I didn’t want to make an effort.
No one wants to feel depressed, exhausted or paralyzed by anxiety, no one chooses to live that way, but choosing not to feel that way — that is a choice.
I understand that isn’t a popular idea, but please stick with me. I’m not suggesting that it’s a case of just deciding to feel better — far from it. Nor should anyone be told to ‘just get on with it’ and pretend they don’t feel bad.
Instead, what I mean is that you have to put in the work to get better. In the…
