A Happy Life Does Not Mean An Easy Life
There will be challenges along the way.
When I worked in a job I constantly faced hurdles about where I wanted to be in my life, how much money I wanted to make and what kind of boss I hoped to work for. Whilst I enjoyed a cushy salary, I did not enjoy my role nor did I have a manager who inspired me to lead. I felt stuck.
Somewhere in me as a twenty-seven-year-old I dreamt of more. I dreamt of a happy life. A life where I could be free from any worry.
What I actually was dreaming of was an easy life. I would only later realize the difference.
Finding fulfillment
When I became an entrepreneur steering my own ship what I realized was that though I was finally happy, I was actually dealing with far greater obstacles than I ever had faced before. Continuous hurdles would stand in my way but despite that, I found contentment in pursuing my goals.
The reason for this is that happiness is about finding fulfillment and contentment. And ease does not necessarily deliver that. One can never appreciate what comes easy.
If happiness was about a rosy life filled with riches then why do the wealthy often suffer from addiction, depression and other mental health issues? Those of us living in the developed world are far more privileged than some families living in slums on the other end of the world, yet we are more likely to see them dancing in the streets. They have learned to embrace their circumstances, whereas we often resist.
And so we are told to “go with the flow.”
The importance of obstacles
Facing obstacles is the way we grow as humans. In Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle Is The Way, he mentions “lessons come hard only if you’re deaf to them…Failure shows us the way — by showing us what isn’t the way.” Finding fulfillment is first a matter of figuring out what it is you want in your life and often times the only way to figure that out is by pinpointing what isn’t. And this is what obstacles, which can sometimes lead to failure, teach us. Obstacles also challenge us to grow and overcome what we otherwise may have not known what we are capable of. They show us our strength and resilience.
Believing that everything that is happening to you is part of your journey to get you where you need to be is the way you should view obstacles.
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”― Bruce Lee
Happiness is a mindset
Most importantly, happiness is a choice. You can pursue happiness if you simply change your perspective. When you focus on all that is right in your life versus all that you wish to change, you will experience happiness. Even in the lowest low, you can find happiness in the support of a loved one. One can never appreciate the feeling of being at a peak without enduring the challenge of the ascent.
Once you learn to accept that life is not easy nor was it ever meant to be, you’ll be that much happier with whatever life you have. There is a struggle in everyone’s story, some are based on our choices, others are purely circumstantial. But only you can decide to be happy.
