Nothing Makes Me Happy

NOTHING MAKES ME HAPPY.

*Sharing an article I wrote | December 31, 2020 | On Minimalism

Nothing Makes Me Happy is read as - No Thing Makes Me Happy.

When is the last time you threw on your few year old jacket, that once cost you an arm and a leg, and was all the rage and thought to yourself, "Wow - this is an amazing jacket and I love it so much?"

Again, when was the last time you jumped into your multi-thousand dollar car, that you once posed with in the driveway and posted on insta about, and thought, "Holy sh*t, am I the luckiest being on the planet today to have such a bad** ride?"

Not picking, but how many items of clothing do you still have stuffed and crammed away in your closet that have tags on them? And how many times a week do you open that closet door and feel the same amount of excitement in ownership that you had the day you bought them?

How often do you really experience the happiness you once attributed to those things? 

Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes it is exciting to have a new 'thing', a new toy or item. And many times we can find a perfectly valid reason, justification and purpose for those 'things' in our lives. 

However what I am getting at is this; 

Do you still feel happy with those 'things' you acquired in the past? Do they still serve a purpose? Do the things you have currently, truly make you happy or, consider this mind-blowing theory, was it the fulfillment of a craving? A false sense of lack that was momentarily filled that leads us to think that some 'thing" has brought us happiness? Did we fall victim to the idea that we are not enough and we need something more outside of us to fill that empty space?

So lets examine this, what happens when we get used to the new thing, when the glow wears off, and we start to feel that sinking feeling again that we need something more, we want feeling back, that some 'thing' else can make us happy, that something else was really the magical missing ingredient to our happiness pie. 

Let's fast forward this thought process of lack. How often do you find yourself thinking about your next acquisition? Be it material possessions, career achievements, financial success, relational, or physical. 

The unfortunate and circular nature of attributing our happiness external things, means that we are willingly handing over our ability to feel happiness regardless of the outcome. Be it that dream job, the ideal romantic partner or relationship, the ever elusive sixpack-abs, the new car, or even just the newest fashion trends. These things in and of themselves may be wonderful to experience, but when we are willing to hinge our happiness on the attainment of them, we are letting go of our ability to be truly happy. 

Minimal, essential, and mindful lifestyles look differently for each unique being. I am not advocating that you simply give up on your dreams, or stop striving to achieve, or even stop acquiring 'things'.  I am advocating a conscious reframing, and a focused attempt at highlighting the many ways we hand over our happiness to the fleeting and false feeling of lack in our daily lives. My goal is to help guide you in asking the questions, taking the time to craft a more conscious inner appreciation for the conditions of happiness already abundantly available to you in the present moment. 

This includes examining our current ways of being, and choosing with conscious focus, how you want to move forward on your unique journey into a more minimalist, essentialist, and mindful life, or maybe then, you choose not to. At least then it was a conscious choice.