Most people in western countries (myself included) live/lived their life according to the American dream. You start as a dish washer and slowly but surely you work yourself up to be a milionaire.
Everything starts out fine and dandy. You get your first better job, you hate it but you do it anyways because you know it will look great in the resume and get you a better paying job. You also probably get inspired by people like @garyvee.
Quick disclaimer: I love Gary Vaynerchuck. He is one of the biggest inspirations for me. But you really have to listen to him. He wants us to be happy. Doesn’t matter if you have 2k a month or 100k a month on your bank account. Keep that in mind. He loves to hustle so it doesn’t hurt him in any way. It’s like playing video games for us. But it can hurt you.
You start working 60-80 hrs a week to make yourself stand out between your colleagues. You neglect your friends, you’re stressed, anxious and maybe even depressed. Doesn’t matter you have a dream, you keep pushing and WHAM a burnout may hit you.
Research has shown that after a specific point (~5k$) of income you will not get any happier. So you’re pretty much destroying yourself and your happiness for material goods.
Let’s quickly imagine you get all the material things you want. You get a big car, you get a big house, you have a few million saved in your bank account. But you feel like something is missing. You have no clue what materialistic goal to strive towards next. You start questioning if you wasted your life, if this was the right decision, if it was worth all the struggles etc.
Now lets also imagine, for whatever reason, you loose all the stuff you got. You were so attached to it you start feeling worthless. Because all the things you had and all the success you had were YOU. You were them and them were you. It was your identity.
Now after all the preface why being rich etc. doesn’t make you happy. Let’s make this all look less bleak by telling you what will actually make you happier and more content.
Be present and concious with whatever you’re doing
We always think about yesterday or tomorrow even though we should enjoy the moment right now much more. Keep in mind that everything is always changing. Everything is impermenant. So suck in the NOW and notice e.g. 5 things you see, 4 things you hear, 3 things you smell, 2 thing you feel, 1 thing you taste.
Spread love
Tell people you love that you love them. It will make them and yourself feel good.
Try to find your 生き甲斐 (Ikigai)
Ikigai means life purpose in Japanese. Right now you might be doing a job you don’t like and you will probably spend most of your life in it. Make a list of activities you like or jobs you find interesting. Research about them and if its something like design or development you could also try that at home and follow some tutorials etc. and see if you like it. Otherwise you could volunteer or do an internship to get a taste for it. Also consider other areas in your life.
Get outside
Do some Shirin-yoku.
Write down all the things you don’t like right now
You should also then look if you can do anything about it. If so do it and don’t worry. If you can’t do anything about it. The only thing you can really do is accept it and then again don’t worry about it (Much easier said than done… I know).
Help others
Making others happy will also make yourself happy. Also don’t expect anything in return when helping someone. Just help them for the sake of making their life better. Be a little selfless.
Be social
Meet up with friends regularly (or play games with them online, Facetime them). Have a good time together and also try to find friends that you can trust and with whom you can be more open and talk about something else than the weather, sports or how to get more money etc.
Slow down
Don’t overwork yourself and take some time for yourself. Pamper yourself. Take a bath, play a videogame, drink a coffee and be fully present with it.
Stop comparing yourself
Take a break from social media (if it’s not your work) and don’t compare your life to a highlight reel of others. All you see on instagram is the highlights of peoples life. But not how boring it most likely is right after taking that picture ;) Try a 1 day break from social media. Sounds easy right? :D
Ditch the news
Trust me on this one. They only have negative messages and try to make you scared. Never ever will you see a newspost about something good that happened. Check out GoodNews they post good news. If you’re scared on missing something important - don’t be someone will probably tell you or you’ll see it on instagram.
Go plant based and don’t overeat
The 5 blue zones on earth are 95% plant based and when you eat plants you’ll feel less of the known tiredness after eating a big animal based meal.
Figure out your spirituality
If you aren’t religious or don’t follow a philosophy spend some time on it. It helps greatly. Do some research and see what fits your worldview. Also talk to other people about their beliefs.
These things will probably make you happier and most of these things can’t be easily lost like money or being rich. You are never guaranteed to keep all the material possesions.
Thanks for reading!