We all have different ideas of happiness and how to achieve it, but - in order to turn happiness into something we create, we have to first adopt a lifestyle which makes us happy. Whether that's exercising every morning, or sleeping in for that extra hour. We all have to create it in our own ways by adopting small habits, even if that's forcing ourselves to smile or think of all the happy times - we’ll start to feel joy all on our own.
Data from 255 metropolitan areas across the US found that communities that pull together — essentially doing nice little things for each other like volunteering and helping a neighbour out — are happier. If we put time into creating happiness for others, we’ll start to feel it ourselves as well.
Don't let your happiness depend on whether you have something, or don’t have something. Happiness is a choice, and we control our own happiness.
These are 15 reasons why I believe we should all be happy!
- We’re alive.
I think this definitely had to be the first one, simply because being alive gives us the ability to be happy or change things in our life to make it a happier place for us. We woke up this morning, took a breath and have been able to get on with our day. We’re living life and experiencing everything that comes along with it.
- We’ve impacted someone's life today.
I think this is also quite an important one, as we may not always know if/when we do this, but we do in fact do it every day. Whether we just got our colleague a drink at work today or smiled at someone in the street or even just walking into work, without knowing, someone could may have looked at us and thought we were pretty or loved our jacket. We impact someone's life everyday.
- We have a roof over our head.
We all take this for granted, when we should in fact be grateful everyday for this. There are people out there who have to sleep on the cold, dark streets not knowing when or how they’re going to get their next meal from, but for us, we’re warm in our house, we have food in the fridge and we’re lucky enough to have a warm comfy bed to go to at the end of the day.
- Waking up next to someone who loves you.
Not all of us may have this right now, but one day we will. That feeling of turning over in the morning and cuddling up to someone who looks at you in admiration and love - even though we might have some bad morning breath and our hair looks a mess - they still look at us and think we are the sexyist thing they have ever seen.
- Fresh drinking water.
Again, another one that is so simple for us, but for a lot of people isn't that simple. We can just go to the tap or in the fridge and grab a nice cold drink of water, and not even think about it. Others have to travel miles just to get some form of water that could be filthy and filled with bacteria.
- We have amazing friends.
All of us have friends that care about us and love us. This is something we should all be happy for. They’re there for us no matter what, the memories we've created together, the late nights we've stayed up laughing and joking about the little things, but back then they were the funniest things we thought we would ever hear.
- Fairy lights.
I love fairy lights and I know this might not be for everybody, but, I feel like they just bring a sense of happiness to a room. They light up the room in a cosy happy way. You can have them up in any room all year round, but at christmas - they’re everywhere. On your christmas tree or in your nearest town. You can just look around and see happy, laughing, red cheeked faces trying to manage all their christmas shopping.
- We hung in there when times were tough and we didn't give up.
No matter what we think is tough and hard in our own live, we all have a different story and a different scale of what a ‘tough time’ is, but we’ve all had them, yet despite this, we haven't given up. We stuck through it. I will always remember being in Year 11, going through my GCSE’s, thinking I couldn't do it and I wouldn't get the grades I needed, when in a house assembly, my house mistress said “This time shall pass” … and she was soooo right. It did, and it was ok.
- You have the most amazing pet.
If you have any pets then you probably know how they just seem to radiate happiness! I will never get how they do it, but somehow they alway bring a smile to your face.
- Friday’s.
Who doesn’t like Fridays? When we hear the word Friday it's almost like there's a sigh of relief inside! It's time to wind down and spend time with friends, family & yourself. I feel like everyone likes Fridays and it brings a smile to people's faces!
- Chocolate.
I also think that chocolate brings everyone happiness, but then I do know a few people who don't like chocolate… But to those who do, you should get me! Chocolate is just like a little drop of heaven. It seems to take a lot of stress away (it's probably just the sugar hitting our veins and making us feel happy!) Even so, I feel like a bar of my favourite chocolate, a hot bubble bath and a good book can turn any day around.
- Photos.
I love photos! I feel like they bring me so much happiness. I wish I developed more pictures than I do, purely because I just feel like they're all on my phone and up in the cloud, so if I was to loose my phone or something, all of those memories would just disappear. I feel like it's really important to develop pictures and put them up all over your house or bedroom to remind you of those amazing memories whilst putting a smile on your face!
- That love exists.
Love is such a powerful emotion. If you can call it that. You can feel it towards anybody and everybody. You can even create it! There’s so many different types of love, that there isn't one person in this world who isn't loved… and I think that something to definately be happy about!
- You’re unique.
There’s not one person in this world that is anything like you. Be proud of that. I’m not saying this is easy… because being proud of who you are and not comparing yourself to others is hard - I'm guilty of this and I’m sure a lot of people are, but we have to remember that we can't be someone else, we have to be ourselves!
- Today is the first day of the rest of your lives.
You woke up today, you can choose to live your life how you wish to live it - it's yours! If you don't want to, you don't have to think about the mistakes you made yesterday or the things you didn't achieve. Today is the first day of the rest of your live, make that count!
Make the change to spend your life being happy. Only you can choose how to spend the rest of your life 💛
Holly x
