Chasing Happiness

Do you know what would make you or your family happy? This is such a simple question, right? But most people do not have a clear answer to this. Happiness can be tricky when it comes to chasing it.

Happiness gets defined by individual circumstances. A person struggling with finances believes money brings happiness, a childless couple believes having children would bring happiness, someone with a critical illness feels good health is the source of happiness, and so on. However, once we get what we are craving for, our meaning of happiness changes. Suddenly, it is something else that will make us happy, or so we believe.

Netra, a girl with a lot of ambitions had just moved to Mumbai. She entered the city with a sparkle in her eyes. As all of us have heard that Mumbai is the City of Dreams. She also had a dream to become a writer. She was great at what she did. She had a good job and she was satisfied. As most do, she used to follow a lot of writers on various social media platforms in
order to take inspiration from their work. However, looking at the lavish lives of the people she followed, she often wondered why she was lagging behind. Now you would think that this might be because of jealousy, but this was not the case. She believed that only those who travel and enjoy a number of vacations are truly happy. It gave her the illusion that she
is unhappy. This made her anxious. She started being negative and thought and she was not living her life to the fullest. It took a month of coaching for her to realize that every person on social media is not real and the virtual world is extremely different from the real world. “Some people act happy on social media and miserable in real life. Which side do you lie on?” – A simple question shook her out of the bubble of illusion and showed her a reflection of what life really is. 

This chasing of happiness often makes people anxious. It’s making everyone feel the pressure that they always have to be happy and cheerful. Most of the anxiety and pressure around happiness comes from societal norms and the misunderstandings created about what happiness is. Chasing happiness might leave you with disappointment. Happiness from materialistic sources is not permanent, it is temporary. Happiness is not an entire life of laughter and party, it is the small doses of good feelings that lift us. Happiness is like butterflies, the more you try to chase it, the faster it flies away from you. So make sure you capture the small beautiful moments and live your best life
while doing what you do. True happiness is something that comes from within, you don’t have to chase it or run behind it. Just look at the small things around you because they are the ones that give you the most happiness. Learn to cherish every moment of your life, be grateful for all that you have, and make an effort to make someone else happy.
 
 Khyati Shah is a Transformation Coach and seasoned professional dedicated to helping people overcome limiting beliefs and balance the demands of life and career more effectively. You can reach her at khyatishah@katalist.net.in.