Easy

Day 111. Easy.

We all have within us the power to make our lives better. We know what we want, we know how to get it, but most of the time we are afraid to even reach for it. Why? Because it's difficult. It's hard to take responsibility for our own lives, and if we are in charge of making our own decisions we have no one else to blame. No matter how much we want things to be better, to be happy, we still find actually doing something about our situation very difficult.

Happiness is a choice. It is not always an easy one. Richard Bach, Illusions.

If we all had the lives of babies... all they have to do is eat, sleep and poop. No responsibilities, no obligations. As we grow into adults, we are given tasks and duties. More and more, yet rarely do we say "no more." We take on financial risk, additional workloads, child rearing. We let things mound up around us, nibbling away at the duty. Instead of taking the time for ourselves, we watch the burden grow. It doesn't have to be a burden, but it often is. Things that should make us happy become tedious, events that should make us smile become just routine.

At some point, people begin to reject the mountain of obligation. Often in the wrong manner, like walking out on their family, or leaving a job over something trivial. "The straw that broke the camel's back" is indeed that minute: when you let your burden grow, the slightest weight makes it unbearable. And who's fault is that? Our own. WE have the power to choose happiness. WE are responsible for the situations we place ourselves in. Because the trappings of modern life draw us to them, we make the choice to sacrifice happiness for things that make us happy. Things that grow uninteresting, become boring. Then we're on to the next big thing. And the next.

Happiness is relative. What makes us happy one day, one week, may not the next. The things that occupies our free time today are rendered useless at some point, so we grow bored with them. By choosing things over people, over ourselves, we never stabilize our lives with anything constant. Then we mourn the loss of happiness like it left of its own accord. Nope, we just replaced it with another "thing." Which frustrates us, makes our life harder. Vicious circle. One we keep drawing over and over again.

Lesson One Hundred Eleven: Stop standing in your own way. You're blocking your own road to happiness.

619 to go...