Sarah--How to Get Through and Enjoy Everyday

Happiness doesn’t last forever. As people, we have gone through multiple bad days, weeks, months, etc., and we know that good moments are fleeting. Our most memorable days and favorite memories are usually made up of short, spontaneous instances. Due to their “come and go” nature, sometimes enjoying the good times seems futile; if it is not going to last or, even worse, be stopped short by inevitable ‘bad times’, then what is the point of indulging in it? It is rational to try to protect oneself by living a life with no highs and lows, but living a stagnant life like that make one afraid of enjoying themselves and, with the absence of joy, one becomes critical and depressed. The following will an instruction on how to enjoy the good, survive and appreciate the bad, and how to make even the worst day have a glimmer of joy. 1. Be open to the idea that you deserve to be happy, and patient with yourself. An essential part of this step is to allow yourself to be vulnerable. (Take small steps to get there). Do not try to convince yourself that you do not deserve joy, and put walls up to protect yourself from feeling it. It is okay to be fragile everyone is anyway and it is okay to struggle with this idea. Give yourself time to be able to appreciate yourself first, before you begin to put that attention and effort onto other things. You’ll begin to feel better overall, and can then begin to feel better about your day. 2. Begin to try and enjoy the smaller things. There are multiple ways to interpret this step: you can try to pay attention to the things you usually overlook, you can look at things and actions in a different light, or identify and seek out a small pleasure you have and invest a few minutes in your day to really enjoy it. It could be from the feeling of warm socks, the sound of rain, the feeling of petting fur, even something mundane like watching turning signals flash at the same time deserves some appreciation! When you feel you find a new acknowledgment for something, you sometime you usually wouldn’t really give a thought about, you sometimes learn something more about yourself. 3. Find something you really, truly enjoy. Take the time to find something that you truly enjoy doing to give yourself a breather when things in your life get too much, or to brighten up your day when you feel the lowest. Finding something that speaks to you will be time consuming, so patience is essential. This step does not necessarily have to do with a skill, like painting or singing. Napping, for example, can be the thing you find is the most enjoyable thing. This is an entirely personal step, so anything goes just as long as it makes you enjoy your time. WARNING : It is okay if your enjoyable thing can not get you in a better mood or make your day less rough. Not everything can be fixed with fun things, no matter how positive your outlook is. If our favorite thing eases the pains of the day even a little bit, then you’re on the right track. Remember from step 1: small steps! 4. Understand the importance of bad days; don’t be afraid of them! No one enjoys having long, bad days. But bad days are unavoidable, so to get through them the best we can, we have to accept them for what they are, and not dwell on what had happened that turned the day sour. Remember that, just like good days, it won’t last forever. Once you can accept it, it is easier to move on from it. This is where the small pleasures and your favorite activity can come in envelope yourself with things you enjoy at the end the day or just appreciate small good things that happened through the day to get along faster. Eventually, bad days will seem shorter and shorter as you understand how to get over them faster. 5. Lastly, let yourself appreciate and love unconditionally. Allow yourself to enjoy things of your day with reckless abandon. Love your friends for who they are and find the value in your interactions with them. Full immerse yourself in music or the activity you found in step 3 and put your entire heart into it. If you fail at that activity, forgive yourself as everyone makes mistakes and keep trying. Treasure the experiences you had throughout your day, whether they be good or bad, to remind yourself of your mortality and that you, despite being a miniscule part of the grand scheme of things, are still a part of something amazing. Love yourself unapologetically, since you deserve it. And to repeat to step 2, remember the tiny things that can be the reason your day is worthwhile.