A Choice to Stay

Life, they say, is fickle. It is filled with constant wants and unlimited vanity. As humans, it’s a natural instinct to constantly want for things. It is second nature for us to crave what we do not have at the moment. You want a new shoe, you get it. You are excited. That excitement fizzles out a week or a day after, and then what? Life continues as it was before. You have nothing new to bring back that spark.

Recently, I came across a quote somewhere, either in a movie or a book, where a character said ‘The enemy of happiness is wanting things’. This is actually one of the realest things I’ve come across in a while. The more you want, the lesser your chances of attaining happiness. Happiness for everyone, comes in many forms. It could be material, it could be emotional, it could be physical. However, you as a person, have to make the choice to be happy through and through, with material and non-material things.

You see, life comes at everyone differently. You might be getting everything you want now, but there were, or will be times things didn’t work the way they did for you. Will you choose to stay grumpy always and overlook all the beautiful things you have around you? Your happiness as an individual, shouldn’t solely be dependent on external factors. Making a choice to be happy, would save you from suffering yourself unnecessarily for something you aren’t sure is going to ever work out for you, or you may never get.

Like the quote above said, if you continue to want and want things, there’s no guarantee you’re going to get every of those things. So, what happens if you end up not getting those things? Will you be sad forever? Someone once told me that life becomes much more beautiful when you accept that everything is not for you. This applies to the feeling of happiness too. Rather than sitting and crying about the things you don’t have, why not be grateful for the things you have, and continue with life.

Happiness to me, is a choice. Limiting your happiness to a certain aspect of life, a particular person, or specific wants doesn’t seem ideal in my opinion. It only sets you up for potential disappointment. We will always have wants so if you limit your happiness to a specific want, I’m afraid you’ll only experience a happiness that vanishes. With the arrival of a new want, your happiness is expunged. It now depends on whether you get that thing or not. So, why not choose to be happy with what you have rather than what you don’t have yet?

Thanks for reading.

Image above is mine.