No One Else Can Ever Make You Happy

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How to Make Yourself Happy

If there’s one thing that plenty of people struggle with in life, it’s learning how to be happy. Far too often, people put their own happiness in the hands of others.

Sound familiar?

If you find yourself waiting around for your parents, your partner, your children, or your friends to make you happy, you’ll be waiting for a very long time.

Because no one else’s entire existence is wrapped up in ensuring that your every desire, dream, and need is met at all times. Just think of how exhausting that would be for one person.

So it’s time to take your own happiness back and to stop handing the responsibility off to others. You can totally do this, and you’ll be so thankful once you do.

The easiest way to make yourself happy is to realize that it’s your responsibility to live the life that you’ve always wanted. Discovering what makes you happy and going after it is all a part of your personal journey to finding happiness as well as no longer expecting others to do it for you.

Remember,

• No matter how fulfilling your childhood was and how attentive your parents were growing up, you’re solely responsible for your own life as soon as you reach adulthood.

• No matter what romantic comedies have taught you your entire life, a romantic partner is never capable of completing you. You have to decide to be a complete person on your own.

• No matter how adorable and fun your children are, they’re born with their own wants and needs that will always trump your own. It’s not their job to make you feel fulfilled by getting involved in activities that you’ve always wanted to do or by spending every waking minute entertaining you.

• And no matter how much your best friends understand you and have your back, they have their own daily lives to lead, relationships to build, and career paths to follow.

So how do people start relying on others to make them happy in the first place?

Well, when you were a teenager, you probably couldn’t wait until you grew up so you could do whatever you wanted to do. You felt like you couldn’t be happy then because your overbearing parents were always standing in your way.

Little did you know that you were starting a habit of thinking other people could create your happiness or take it away at a moment’s notice. But in reality, not even your parents could do this for you.

Or when you were single in the past, you probably thought that you’d really be happy once you found the one. You thought this person would somehow fix your insecurities and your feelings of emptiness and longing.

So you got in the habit of putting off your happiness until someone special came into your life. Then you committed to a partner and realized over time that he or she couldn’t read your mind or fill you with joy every single day of your life.

Your partner could certainly brighten your days, but he or she could never be the only one who could make you happy.

Or when you became a parent, your love for your children was stronger than any other love you had ever experienced before.

And yet the sheer demands of parenthood started to take their toll. You realized quickly that you were losing yourself because you had to put your own needs last for far too long, and you could no longer recognize the person who you once were.

Your children can bring you great joy, but they can’t make you happy on their own.

And when you found your group of friends who loved and supported you unconditionally, you loved and supported them unconditionally right back.

The only problem was that you rarely got to see them anymore as work obligations, marriages, and families started to take top priority. You were lucky if you could shoot a quick text or private message over social media most months.

Your friends can stand by you when you need them most. but they can’t shoulder the responsibility for making you happy because they have to worry about making themselves happy too.

The sooner you realize that your happiness is solely up to you, the sooner you can choose to work on it. Happiness is definitely a choice and a habit, and you should prioritize both immediately.

Brooke’s Top Picks For Happiness Journals

Gratitude Journal For Women & Men by HarvestCruise

• 12-week journey of becoming more thankful and happier than ever before
• Takes just 5 minutes per day
• Helpful prompts
• Different themes per week

Gratitude Journal For Kids, Tweens, & Teens by InkandScribblesKids

• Helps kids build a positive mindset and focus and being grateful
• Explores the meaning of happiness and how to find it for yourself

Tips To Make Yourself Happy

These 10 tips will help you learn how to start making yourself happy once and for all:

1. Accept yourself for who you are.
2. Be honest about who you are with others.
3. Realize that your opinion of yourself is what truly matters.
4. Start living freely and building the life you want for yourself.
5. Forgive yourself for past mistakes.
6. Prioritize your physical, mental, and emotional health.
7. Practice self-care for your body, your mind, and your soul.
8. Do things that make you happy.
9. Stop doing things that don’t make you happy.
10. Live each day intentionally and be grateful.

With these 10 tips, you can build the life you’ve always wanted and create happiness for yourself without relying on others to do it for you.

And just think of how proud you’ll be once you’ve mastered it.

How to Be Happy Now

You deserve to be happy now — right now! There’s literally no acceptable reason to put it off.

The best way to be happy now is to recognize that your happiness truly matters and that by being happy, you’re a better version of yourself to those around you. So stop putting your happiness off to some future date and make your own happiness a priority in your life.

And one of the biggest struggles people face when it comes to discovering how to make themselves happy is that they think they’re being selfish for going after what they want.

Listen carefully, finding happiness is not a selfish act. In fact, it will be a gift to everyone around you. When people see you prioritizing your own happiness, it influences them to do the same.

And even though it won’t always be easy, if you put in the effort daily, it will become a habit that will serve you for the rest of your life.

Once you’re committed to being happy, you’ll become a more appreciative son or daughter. You’ll realize that although everyone is flawed, your parents did what they could at the time with what they had.

• And if your childhood was great, you’ll start to see all of the sacrifices your parents made to ensure that it was great. And you’ll want to make those same sacrifices if you become a parent too.

• And if your childhood wasn’t great, you’ll start to see that your childhood was still a gift. You learned lessons from it that were priceless. You’ll be a better listener, more empathetic to others struggling with past abuse, and a much better parent to your own children as a result.

When you chose happiness, you stop seeing only the negative parts of memories, and you start being able to see how everything shapes you into being a better person in the long run.

And once you’re committed to being happy, you’ll become a more carefree partner. You won’t expect anyone to complete you, so you won’t push yourself towards trying to complete someone else either.

You’ll just have fun together. You’ll find comfort in one another. And when you’re exhausted, you’ll tell your partner that you need alone time so that you can rest and discover your own thoughts without feeling guilty for putting your needs first.

And once you’re committed to being happy, you’ll become a more patient and loving parent. You learned that your needs matter too, and you’ll teach your children that the world doesn’t revolve around them.

You’ll have important conversations with them about:

• how all people struggle sometimes
• how it’s important to deal with your emotions in healthy ways
• how happiness comes from accepting yourself for who you are today

You can teach them not to always be looking for the bigger, better deal but to see the good in everyone — including yourself.

And once you’re committed to being happy, you’ll become a more understanding friend. Even though you’ve been looking forward to a night out for weeks, when your friend suddenly cancels, you’ll be okay because you realize that you can still enjoy some quiet time alone.

You’ll also realize that reaching out to someone is just as much your job as it is theirs, and you can’t always wait for the other person to make the first move.

You’ll know now that in a crisis, you can count on your friends no matter what else is going on even though sometimes it seems impossible just to coordinate schedules for happy hour.

In all these situations, you’re taking control of your own happiness. You’re no longer being dependent on anyone else to make you happy. And you’re no longer perpetually waiting for happiness to come at some future date on the calendar.

It feels good to be in control of your own feelings. And it’s freeing to make your own choices on your own timetable.

So choose happiness for yourself today. Your future self will thank you.

Brooke’s Top Picks For T-Shirts

Choose Happy Shirt by MammClothing

• Handmade
• Cute design
• Huge selection of colors to choose from

Choose Happy T-Shirt by DesignsByArtworks

• Handmade
• Many options available
• Huge selection of colors to choose from

Sources:

• Etsy
• Greater Good Magazine: To Be Happier, Should You Focus On Yourself Or Others?
• Helpguide.org: Cultivating Happiness
• Scientific American: Make Yourself Happy
• The Atlantic: The Three Equations for a Happy Life, Even During a Pandemic

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How can you make yourself happier? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.