Happiness for me until a few days ago was simple, in order to be truly and completely happy I needed to have everything in my life in alignment. I needed to have the right job, my home situation needed to be ideal, social life intact, being able to mom and still carve a space out for me. For a long time, I held on to this idea and so I was never truly happy. I of course would have moments of joy and cheerfulness but not complete peace and happiness.
For the most part I was fine with this because in my mind no one is ever truly 100% percent at all times. So, this was not an issue, that was until I had a conversation with my husband. See, I was unaware of how my idea of happiness affected him. And though this was never something I vocalized, I guess being in the same space and him observing me over the years it’s something he picked up on. During our conversation he mentioned not ever seeing me completely happy. To put it in his words “we would be completely ok, but then you would be worried about what your job looks like or moving here and giving up friends and our community”.
He was not wrong, everything he mentioned was the truth. One area of my life would seemingly be perfect while other areas were on fire and in most cases like most people; instead of focusing on all the good things that were happening my focus would be drawn to what was not going right. This caused me to do a double take on what happiness truly meant to me. While it is true that I have a lot of things to figure out and the transition from a well-established life to starting over in a new country has not been the easiest, I also have tons to be thankful for. I can find happiness in just about every area of my life if I were to focus my energy on the things that really matters.
As I learn to redefine what true happiness means to me, it made me a bit curious as to what it looks like for others. So, this week my question to you is what does true happiness look like for you?
A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.
Proverbs 15:13
True happiness to me is waking up each morning, that just block out all the negativity, i try my best to focus on the good,am breathing, I have food,clean water, am healthy, am above ground,the moment I decide to wake up and remind my self each day of all this, my life change in a positive way, BE GRATEFUL!