Hack Your Way To Happiness

Don’t take what you have today for granted

It is a very cliche and often talked about topic these days, but finding happiness is something that lots of us struggle with at times. We are all so caught up with our lives and what they entail- where we need to be, what we have or haven’t accomplished, what we can distract ourselves with… it is all so tiresome. This can be broken down from a pessimism vs optimism perspective, but no matter who you are, thoughts of unhappiness can creep in and ruin a day. A day turns into a week, weeks turn into months. Sure there will be glimmers of happiness sprinkled in, but before you know it, you feel generally unhappy with life. Isn’t there a way to mitigate that or is it inevitable? It is my belief that happiness is curated by an individual, every day, consciously. We have 3 options in life when it comes to situations that can potentially make us unhappy: Leave it, fix it, or stay and deal with it. Believing that the grass is greener on the other side is a child’s fantasy. “If I can just make x amount of dollars, marry that type of person, get that promotion, THEN I will be happy.” That is a fallacy that we can easily manipulate ourselves into believing. We must operate in reality, knowing that we are exactly where we are exactly when we need to be there.

Here are 3 ways to hack your way into a feeling of general happiness:

1. Waste time. Seriously.

Some may balk at that statement, but if you sit back and think about it, what is “wasted time”? Is there even such a thing? Of course that is not for me to decide, but I would argue that setting aside time to just exist and do nothing (in todays society this is considered wasting time) is in and of itself a totally plausible way to detach from the busyness of life that may produce waves of unhappy feelings. There is a saying that goes something like this (apologies if I butcher it, can’t find it on the interweb) “We waste years in hopes of not wasting hours”- which is essentially saying we get so wrapped up in the busy trap that we don’t have time to focus on what is most important- us and our priorities. You have to be OK personally to effectively lead and live the life you are called to live. Prioritizing yourself is of utmost importance, so figuring out a way to schedule wasted time gives you the platform to do some processing, reflecting, planning, and other things that positively impact happiness. “Wouldn’t I just become more unhappy by doing nothing if I’m already inclined to being unhappy?” I’m glad you asked.

2. Keep the promises you make to yourself

This is a very underrated approach to life in general, but also in finding happiness. If I tell myself that I am going to wake up at 5 am and run 5 miles, and when the time comes I don’t actually do it, I make myself a liar. Now does that mean that I am a no-good POS that won’t achieve anything, ever? Of course not. But it does however create feelings of unhappiness, because I can’t even keep my word to myself. I am subconsciously signaling to my brain that I am going to do something positive that I will feel fantastic about afterward, then impulsively opting out. Scientifically speaking, when we tell ourselves, and more specifically others, about “the things we are going to do”, we get a small hit of dopamine, because the body knows that when we have completed said thing, we will receive a large hit of dopamine. We dampen that pathway when we don’t follow through with our word. Whether we know it or not, this takes a major toll on our perception of life and our overall happiness. So if we commit to doing something (could even be something we conjured up during our “wasted time” 😅 ), just freaking do it.

3. Cliche, but practice gratitude.

The art of expressing gratitude is not lost upon me. Its ability to swoop me out of a groggy and rather grumpy state is second to none. It is very cliche, but I think it seems so basic to us that “it surely can’t be a fix for unhappiness”. There are people who literally can’t breathe without having to consciously tell themselves to inhale and exhale. I believe we can find a few things to be grateful for. In order for me to do this, I try to extrapolate as much as I can from the most basic things. It gamifies it a bit. “Oh what, I’m grateful for my legs”. Yes, bro, I am grateful that I have functioning legs. I am grateful that I have thick and juicy calves, ones that allow me to run far and wide. I am grateful for my leg hairs that catch dust and bacteria before they can get into any cuts that I may have, causing infection. I am grateful that my legs allow me to walk on to a plane and go to any corner of the earth that I desire, to serve my eyes as a vessel to explore the beauty of everything God has created. You see, once you begin to go down a path of gratefulness, more and more things pop up that you can express gratitude for. Each one of us is capable of expressing some gratitude to fix the funky attitude, no matter the situation. Take it as seriously or as goofy as you’d like- it works.

To wrap up, I will say in all seriousness that being in a perpetual state of unhappiness really, really sucks. If you find yourself unable to get of the rut with these steps or any other tactics you might have seen on TikTok, go see someone. A friend, a parent, a sibling, a counselor. Talk to someone who lends an ear and allows you to get some things off your chest, because sometimes that is just what the doctor ordered. I pray everyone reading has a very blessed and HAPPY humpday.

P.S. I highly recommend the book “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, the man whose quote I used above. It radically changed my perspective on presence and happiness.

Godspeed friends