10 Things That Are Easy If You're Happy, But Challenging If You're Not
Happiness is a concept, so here's how to achieve it.
Prostock-Studio | Canva I get it, ‘happiness’ isn’t a thing. It’s fleeting. At the same time, most of us instinctively know what we mean by happy, so I will stick with it for this article.
Here are 10 things that are easy if you're happy but challenging if you're not:
1. Stop looking for happiness
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Chasing ‘happiness’ only reinforces the fact that you haven’t reached it. This is one of life’s greatest paradoxes and it could be why you continue to live in the dark.
2. Be relentlessly keen on helping others succeed
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It’s easy to think that this kind of enthusiasm isn’t in us naturally. We’re too busy trying to succeed ourselves. But — as I’ve found over the years — and just as with any other discipline — we grow into it.
The more you do it, the more this naturally comes to you. Supporting and lifting others will take the emphasis off you, diminishing your self-consciousness while also bringing in insane levels of good karma. Be unreasonably focused on helping others succeed.
3. Refuse to live your life as a victim
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95% of victimhood is self-creation. Most of us secretly love feeling like a victim because it takes away our agency. You make life worse by assigning blame and positioning yourself as someone who needs love and attention.
There are two modes: Creator and victim. Choose the first one.
4. Know the difference between being reckless and inviting high upside risks
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Both appear risky, but only one secretly fills up your tank with magnificent gold coins. What is a high upside risk?
It’s something that often feels scary but the downsides are low and the upsides are high, according to research from 2024. Maybe it’s starting a creative project, hosting a solo podcast, inviting someone for coffee, writing a vulnerable article, making good art, going on a long hike, or asking for help.
These are good risks. Fill your life with these every day, and your happiness will rise.
5. Become incredibly skilled at something specific
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You can be a jack of all trades if you want, but don’t let this be at the expense of getting outstanding at one thing. Our happiness is closely tied — not to how much validation we get from others — but to how useful we are in society.
6. Brainstorm like a badger
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There’s a cheeky secret you’ll wish you knew about badgers. They’re brainstorming hard in their little underground lairs when we can’t see them. Scheming little demons.
Brainstorming is one of the easiest and most enjoyable creative acts. We feed creative fuel into the creative fire, and we come out with a steaming hot loaf of creative gold.
Brainstorm more. You’ll be happier.
7. Regularly reconnect with nature
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Sounds cripplingly cliche, but it’s so cliche that we’ve come full circle, and it’s good advice once more. Research consistently shows that spending time in nature can significantly benefit mental health by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression.
Plus, we can easily forget this in our busy, modern lives. This means making dedicated weekly or, ideally, daily time to getting out into a field, forest, fjord, fen, or some foothills for nature fun time.
You’re a human, not a cyborg. You need to experience nature deeply as we always have.
8. Be ruthlessly intolerant of any thoughts that make you feel less than
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The problem for most of us is we think our thoughts hold meaning. Those being directed by an ego reliant on self-preservation. The best thoughts come through the gap left in our minds when we relax.
Those are never not positive. They always feel good. Our default state is to feel good because we aren’t punishing ourselves in the dim theatres of our frightened minds.
9. Do more of what you want to do
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I’m talking about those wholesome things you keep thinking about doing but you come up with excuses to not do. In my case, it’s building my own cabin. I’ve been holding that off for years, and it’s time I did something about it. To start, I’m going to learn about woodwork.
10. Continually ask, ‘How can I use this?’
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Undoubtedly, there’s a ton of stuff swirling around in your head right now that you don’t like. You suffered a setback.
Sally isn’t responding to your texts. Jacob made a mean comment about you by the water cooler.
You have this thing coming up next week you’re dreading. A major happiness life hack is to take whatever it is that’s stressing you and turn it into fuel.
You do this by asking the above question. Everything — in a weird kind of way — can be turned into a blessing.
Try it now. It will change your life.
Alex Mathers is a writer and coach who helps you build a money-making personal brand with your knowledge and skills while staying mentally resilient.