Are You Waiting to Be Happy?

Do you remember as a teenager being so excited about getting your driver’s license and eventually your own set of wheels? I bet when it finally happened, you were thrilled! At some point, did that thrill wear off? Maybe your Mom wanted you to drive to the grocery store and run her errands. Maybe you had to pay for the car or for insurance. Maybe your friends wanted you to run them everywhere.

There are major events in our lives that we expect will bring us great happiness like getting a job, a promotion, buying a house, getting married, starting a family, etc. These do make us happier – – for awhile.  However, once we experience them, the novelty eventually wears off and we may think we need to wait for the next big event to find happiness again. “I can’t wait until the kids leave home. Then I’ll be happy.” Or “Once I retire, then I’ll be happy!”

Being excited and looking forward to an upcoming event is a good thing, but the catch is we shouldn’t rely on the future for our well-being and happiness. We should anticipate and savor life’s big occasions, but we should also enjoy the journey and time in between.

So don’t wait to be happy!!  Choose a mindset that reminds you of all the wonderful things around you NOW, of all that you have to be grateful for TODAY, so you can appreciate and be happy in the present moment. 

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Tina Hallis, Ph.D. is Chief Positivity Officer of The Positive Edge, a company dedicated to helping people and organizations increase their positivity to improve the quality of people’s work lives and the quality of company cultures. She is certified in Positive Psychology, an authorized partner for Everything DiSC®, and a Professional Member of the National Speaker’s Association.