Happiness comes at no cost and is an exhilarating feeling that everyone needs and deserves to experience each and every day. There are so many things people have stress about, some being the smallest things and others being a bigger problem. Either way, I think as a whole, us humans need to take a minute and slow down in life.

People who are happy are the ones who are “winning”. People who are winning don’t actually care about winning because they see no competition, except with themselves. There are many ways to make the most out of each day and find happiness despite what is going on in your life.

Stop the comparison game

The second you start comparing yourself to others, you automatically lose. When comparing yourself to others you already have it in your head that you are not good enough. When seeing other people’s success you should always applaud them and it should only motivate you. Being jealous of others just shows your own insecurities. Sure it is 100% ok to be like, “she has a great physique, I bet she worked hard for that body.” Not being like, “ it’s not fair that she looks like that, I want to look like that because then more people will like me.” The thing is you should like you and who you are, not worrying about other people liking you. Cheer for others while also encouraging yourself. 

Less screen time and more connection to the world and universe

Idk about you but it is beyond easy for me to get sucked into my phone and then feel bad about myself for it. Social media is good to a certain extent, but not good to waste your day away on. I am 1000% guilty of spending whole days at a time on my phone not doing anything good for myself. When doing this I started to notice my mood. I noticed I was being impatient to the things and people around me and just not as kind as I usually am. I was feeling tired after a full night’s rest of sleep and just not really myself. What I started doing to improve my mood and feel like I’m actually a part of the world was meditation, not going on my phone first thing when I wake up, and getting some form of exercise each day. Meditation helps you ease your thoughts and stress and helps you feel in the present moment, just slowing down overall. Not checking my phone right away in the morning makes me feel like I have some sort of power and gives me more energy right off the bat. I say that it gives me more power because I’m not stuck in the phone cycle of tiredness and stress right when I wake up. I do my morning routine and feel like I have my own power, not the internet having power over me at times. Exercise is one that everyone knows. Getting outside and feeling the sun gives you an automatic dopamine boost, and being out in nature makes you feel more at ease. Or getting to the gym just relieves some weighted stress and gets your endorphins in check.

Loving yourself for who you truly are

This one kind of ties in with the comparison game. Social media can make you feel like poop because everyone is showing their highlight reels of their life (I do too). A lot of the time we think that we will be more like-able depending on what we wear, what we look like, trends going on etc. The minute I accepted myself for who I am and that I won’t change to please others is when I finally felt “free”, free from the mental block that I was not good enough! When I realized I am amazing and wonderful just the way I am, the more I started to love myself. When you think of being different from others it is exciting, you don’t want to be everyone else, you want to be truly yourself and not care what others think. Now it doesn’t happen overnight, I still get tripped up and have bad mental days about myself and who I am. We are human. Start sharing what you like and if you lose some friends or family because you are showing your true self, they are not meant to be in your life anyway. Would you rather keep faking something for someone to like you and keep living in this cycle of exhaustion and sadness? Or would you say f*ck it and see where the journey of you takes you. There is only a matter of time until enough is enough and you need a change.

Gratitude and the things you love

Gratitude is one of the most important, underrated practices in life. When you start to appreciate the smallest of things in your life, the more you will realize you are lucky and blessed. Being grateful even for just the air around you to breathe can really change your perspective that some things you stress about in life aren’t worth it because there are lots of other events and things going on each and every day. Incorporating gratitude with the things you like to do is like no other. If you love to workout you may be thinking in your head, “I am so grateful I get to work out today to better my physical and mental health, I do this for me.” That sounds way better than, “ugh, I have to work out today.” No you get to workout, you have access to a gym, there are a lot of people out there who don’t have that! I’m not saying either that it’s not ok to be down or unmotivated. Sometimes you need to do nothing without feeling guilty so you can have a better mindset down the road. Try and incorporate some gratitude with your attitude.

Expand your knowledge 

Knowledge is truly power! Wouldn’t you feel more confident if you knew certain things about certain subjects? Learning new things is fun because you can see what you really like in life and what you don’t. I started watching YouTube videos about different subjects like investing and money as well as the simple stuff like different hobbies to try. If you were to try something random that you didn’t think you’d like and then it ended up being your favorite thing ever, you would thank yourself. The more you know, the more you grow!

You deserve happiness and it is your birthright! 

The more you start to believe that you deserve to be happy the more you will notice it around you and that you will start to be more happy. Want to be happy? Start taking the time to do things for yourself that will get you there! Stopping focusing on others and start being you. It may feel more lonely at first, but once you are happy with who you are and accept yourself you won’t feel a need for others validation and you will start living for yourself.