How can I make myself happy? This may be a question you ask yourself daily. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t just wake up one day and are happy from then on. Happiness takes work. Every single day you must dedicate yourself to being happy and doing what you must to maintain that happiness.
It is also important to recognize that happiness isn’t one size fits all. What makes you happy may be completely different from what makes someone else happy. That being said, there are some general tips you can follow to maximize your happiness.
Tips for Being Happy
Commit to being nice to yourself
It can be easy to fall into a pattern of self-hatred and negative self-talk. This pattern, however, will always prevent you from feeling your happiest. If you tell yourself you are unworthy, miserable, or sad, you will begin to feel that way. In contrast, if you tell yourself you are beautiful, smart, and worthy, you will begin to feel happier and lighter. Positive self-talk and committing to being nice to yourself are essential to both finding and maintaining happiness.
Accept that finding happiness is a process
You cannot expect to decide one day to be happy and then just be happy forever. Finding happiness and continuing to be happy requires you commit to taking the necessary steps every day to stay positive and happy. These steps may include setting out daily, attainable goals for yourself that can be celebrated at the end of the day or making a gratitude list every morning. Every morning you must dedicate yourself to happiness and taking the steps necessary to get there.
Stop comparing yourself to others
Everyone’s journey to happiness is different. It is vital to remember that your journey in life is unique to you, and to compare yourself to others is to prevent yourself from being happy. Practice finding joy in the little things in life and the ones around you without having to compare your accomplishments with others to feel fulfilled. Don’t judge your own progress based on someone else’s.
Forgive yourself
Beating yourself up accomplishes nothing. Constantly lamenting on what you could’ve done differently results in self-hatred and little happiness in one’s life. Acknowledging when you make a mistake, learning from it, and forgiving yourself allows you to move forward in your life without being held back by the past. Failures simply offer you a lesson on how to improve in the future, failures do not mean you are not good enough or deserving of happiness.
Prioritize your health
Focusing on nurturing and loving your body is essential to happiness. Eating healthy, getting physical activity, and taking care of your mental health will help maximize the joy in your life. Whether this means going on daily walks, making sure you have vegetables with every meal, and/or meditating, any form of self-care practices you take part in will contribute to your overall happiness.
Make time to have fun
It is easy to forget to take time out of your busy schedule to have fun. In order to prevent burnout and depression, however, it is very important to take a break from work and your everyday routine to have fun. Making sure to give your brain and body a break from the everyday grind will be beneficial for your mood and overall happiness.
Be of service
Helping others is an amazing way to make both yourself and the ones around you happy. Showing love and support to those in your community can make you feel more fulfilled and happy. Acts of kindness such as donating a portion of your salary to charity, volunteering at a hospital, and more can help you maximize the joy in your life while also bringing joy to others.
Eliminate toxic people from your life
Feeling happy can be almost impossible if the ones around you create an environment of misery. Eliminating people from your life who are unkind and do not bring you joy is essential to be happy. Allowing yourself the freedom to decide who is in your life and who isn’t offers you the opportunity to create friendships that maximize both your happiness and the happiness of your friends.
Finding Happiness at Design for Recovery
At Design for Recovery, you can begin to discover how to make yourself happy while remaining sober. Design for Recovery offers a structured, safe environment to become more secure in your sobriety. Residents work hard daily to develop new skills, values, and coping mechanisms for approaching life in early recovery. During this process, residents develop close friendships with their peers and become connected with the Los Angeles recovery community. At Design for Recovery, you can explore what happiness in recovery means to you and how to maximize that happiness.