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Practice in Public

If you want to become a better writer, you have to hit the publish button. Notes and drafts don’t count. Practice in public helps writers get off the sidelines and turn pro.

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Maybe Chasing Happiness Is Making You Miserable

3 min readMay 13, 2025

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Photo by Jacob Dyer on Unsplash

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve asked myself: What makes you happy?

It’s a small but loaded question.

It was one that I used to chew over. On the motorway. At work. On my daily dog walks.

Quizzing, questioning, pleading with myself — if I could just find the answer, I could optimize my life for that.

It wasn’t until I realised that happiness was much more complicated than that, that life was much more complex than that, that I got to the place where I’ve been happier than ever.

Let me explain.

Happiness is not linear

I used to think happiness was a problem to be solved rather than a journey to be walked.

I thought if I just had the answer, I could use that, and suddenly, my life would be perfect.

That’s not true for me. Or anyone I know. Like most people, I solve one problem and am greeted by 10 more. Your problems never end, and happiness is not a tick box.

Instead, it’s a state to be managed, a cup to be filled, a dial to twist.

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Practice in Public
Practice in Public

Published in Practice in Public

If you want to become a better writer, you have to hit the publish button. Notes and drafts don’t count. Practice in public helps writers get off the sidelines and turn pro.

Eve Arnold
Eve Arnold

Written by Eve Arnold

Helping 16,000+ people build a successful content-based business: www.theparttimecreatorclub.com