This year to save you from tears… invest in yourself
Short minded and trivial pursuits provide us with short term happiness. To reach permanent happiness it’s vital to invest in yourself! Maximize your human potential and craft a fulfilling life for yourself and for your surroundings.
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
It’s the most wonderful time of the year as is stating the song by Andy Williams. It also has become the craziest time of the year. With shopping mall nightmares and buying on credit. When things are meant to bring joy. It’s the most artificial time of the year.
The Christmas season is the strongest sales period of the year for retailers. The estimated Christmas spending of U.S. consumers for 2020 is expected to be about 850$ on average. Not to mention all the 607 minutes spent on shopping. Plus driving to shopping malls, parking, wrapping, etc. Hell of a lot of holiday madness.
With just a few weeks until Christmas day, many shoppers are feverishly trying to find the perfect meaningful gifts for everyone on their list. But the real question remains. Keeping in mind our valuable short presence in this life, is this a wise way to spend our time? Are these the things that are going to make us happy?
“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like” — Dave Rasmey
It’s not better to cry in Ferrari.
We have reached the moment of history where self-improvement that in our early stage of life meant growing, learning, and the inner carve for development has acquired the meaning of collecting shiny things and possessions. With the all-too-common assumption that when we get enough stuff, we will we be happy. You don’t have to search too far to find how wrong this theory is.
The most comprehensive study about happiness comes from 1978, where a classic study compared a sample of 22 lottery winners with 22 control-group members (who didn’t win any money) and 29 people who were paralyzed in accidents. As the study predicted, happiness is relative, and as result “lottery winners were not happier than controls and took significantly less pleasure from a series of mundane events”.
One might think that one million is all that is missing from complete happiness, but that’s not how human nature works. It’s best described because as a “hedonic treadmill”. Observed as the tendency of humans to get bored with the things that we are used to and not resulting in a permanent gain in happiness. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your job, a new sweater, mobile phone, etc. You will get tired of it eventually.
It means that anything new and shiny makes us happy or excited until it becomes the thing we get sick of seeing every damn day. And we start chasing new shiny possessions with the false hope of happiness.
You can fix your life because it’s better not to cry at all!
Chasing shiny things and short-minded pleasures are in the characteristics of the modern world, where life is filled up with responsibilities and we are busy meeting others’ goals and agendas. We are filled up with building careers, chasing shiny possessions and trivial pursuits while our own dreams are silently sliding away. Rather than reaching our goals and building our own desired future many of us are going with the flow and therefore drifting in life.
This situation where we are meeting the goals and agendas of the others and not getting salvation from possessions makes us feel trapped. Trapped in a world where our actions do not have impact. This feeling of not being able to affect their environment results in dissatisfaction with life, anxiety, or even depression.
“If you do not set the direction for your life distractions will set the direction for you” — Sophia Amoruso, #GIRLBOSS
However, once human nature realizes that its actions have a direct effect on their outcomes and can impact the future, they become fearless to act, happier, and more successful.
This year, to save you from tears… invest yourself.
This idea that people different from their true nature and capabilities, tend to be less happy than those whose goals and lives match is backed by many pieces of research. It is reasonable to think that someone who has the inherent potential to be a great musician or scientist may never realize their talents if their energy is focused on attaining the basic needs of humans.
This brings us to the Maslow hierarchy of needs, which states that one can reach the highest state of existence through self-actualization. Exploring one’s unique set of skills and pushing limits to become the best version of himself. Meaning to reach one’s full potential.
“Ordinary people seek entertainment. Extraordinary people seek education and learning“ — Benjamin Hardy
Stating that after meeting one’s basic needs, there is just nothing more exciting in this world than explore your inner capabilities and achieving your goals and dreams. Explore your potential and reach the highest state of existence. And no material possession nor short-minded pleasure can substitute the inner need for a fulfilled life.
There’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy.
Most of us love surprises and receiving gifts but maybe it’s time to revalue our values and how we are spending our time. Instead of spending 10 hours feverishly in shopping malls, spending way too much money, let’s concentrate on improving ourselves and our surroundings.
Personal growth has a profound effect on every single aspect of our life. As we grow on a personal level, we begin to feel more passionate about life in general. We are naturally more motivated because learning and growing add motivation and a sense of excitement. personal growth expands our frame of reference to include the people around us instead of becoming more self-centered. As our world expands, so does our awareness of the possibilities and opportunities around us. This possibility mindset fills us with an attitude of eager anticipation as we start each new day.
“Dream big but know the first step is most probably a small one“
It’s your decision if it’s going to be one day or day one. Self-actualization and crafting a fulfilling life starts with your decision. Only you can make the decision to take your time and life under your command. The decision to make constant small steps toward self-improvement that will lead to a huge positive change in the end. No grande acts of bravery. But small, smart choices, completed consistently over time improvements that everybody can manage.
There is just nothing more exciting in this world than finding your fit and actually living your dream.
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!
