Stop Caring to Live Happy
Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 4:25PM For those of you that know me on a personal level you know that I am constantly searching for something. I am searching for what makes me happy, what is fun, and so on and so on. Well, recently I think i have found what it is that make me the happiest. I think I can finally put down my search and just start enjoying things. What I have found might surprise most of you. So let me start by saying that I have not converted to a religion, but I think I have adopted Zen philosophies. I am not really a student so I don't know if that is the correct phrasing or not. Let me get a bit more specific.
To start with, I have way to much stuff in my life. This is professional, personal and crap! The managing if items, problems and people just became to much. I was always worried about buying the next car, TV, laptop, furniture and what not. At the same time I was worried about making everyone in my life, no matter the role they played, happy. Doing all this just creates a tremendous amount of stress. It makes me unhappy with the relationships and the things I already have.
In addition there is my work life. I am the first to admit that I am a little hard to manage at times and a little touchy about somethings. The problem starts because I tie a lot of my self worth to my job and job performance. That in and of itself is not as bad until you add in the fact that I am trying to please everyone as well. This just makes a powder keg of events that can lead to low satisfaction at work.
So what does someone like me to do? Well, I am not sure this is going to work 100 percent, but I know that it has been helping. First of all, I stopped caring what other people thought about me. I narrowed my focus to those that I cared about and forgot the rest. This meant that I stopped feeling bad if someone didn't call me back or ping me when they came on chat. While I may care about the person, them not contacting me does not affect my true life. The second thing I did was started being happy with the many gifts my life gave me. My wife, kids, family, brothers in the IO, motorcycle, Jeep, and all the others.
The one major problem I still have is I still tie a lot of my self worth to my job. This is causing the greatest amount of stress right now in my life. I think once I can get a handle on that I will be fine and can live a happy and fulfilled life.
I am not saying everyone should take this journey, but just by starting down the path has helped me tremendously. I recommend that everyone take a step back and evaluate life and what is important so you can focus on what really matters to you. And that is the key. Focus on what matters to you and not anyone else.
;)
