Last Friday I found myself depressed on the couch after watching the Jonas Brothers Happiness Continues Concert Film. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing to relive the concert and get more insight into their reunion. But after, I was sad. For some reason, I felt super insignificant. Like, my life and creative journey meant nothing to anyone.
But why? I’m 26. I have the white picketed fence, the husband, a great job, family, and friends. I’m sure my life looks fulfilled to anyone looking in from the outside. But after talking with a friend who literally laid out the beauty of my life, I decided to examine why these moments of unhappiness pop up.
What I found is that I’m categorizing it all wrong. I’m not unhappy, but rather, I feel insignificant and I’m yearning for more. Always wanting that next step in life. Whether it’s my relationships, social media, work or just plain stuff, sometimes it feels like no matter what I accomplish, it’ll never be enough because there’s always another level to strive for.
But what I’ve learned to do is find success in everyday occurrences. Successfully making a dinner not involving pasta = success. Finally writing that blog post = success. It’s these everyday wins that we should acknowledge because if we set our measure of success with money, we will never be successful because someone will always have more.
So, will money make us happy? The answer is a simple, no and it’s scoured throughout Hollywood Hills and up and down Wallstreet. Successful businessmen and celebrities find themselves willing to take their own lives because money and success was not enough. Looking at their lives is a much-needed wake up call to remember that with new levels come new devils and just because there’s a Porsche in your driveway doesn’t mean you’re happy. And just because you reached a million followers on Instagram, doesn’t mean the relationships in your real life will be full of joy.
Being truly great isn’t all about getting to the top of the world so you can look down on everyone else and rule your own Kingdom. No. You can see this example all across Hollywood. Celebrities that seem happy but surprisingly get divorced. Starlets who reach the pinnacle of their careers reach back down to help those who are up and coming. Because being at the top can be lonely unless you are serving others. That’s why it’s so important to implement a mindset of service right now.
So how can we all apply this to our daily lives. For me, it’s broken up into 3 areas of my life.
So, I dealt with this issue on the post linked above but sometimes it’s easy to forget exactly the purpose behind all of this work on social media. If we’re not careful it can turn into a game of “who can get the most likes” and that’s not what it should be about. For me, my goal on social media is to be myself. To share my world and to inspire others. Forget likes and just focus on releasing content I’m proud of and draws people to my website because this is the place I want people to think of when they want content from me. I’ll think of social media as the conduit to the blog.
The older I get, the more I’m realizing that stuff is the root of all evil. Because it’s like, you get one thing and then you want another. For example, I just got a brand new $1,300 Macbook and I’m on to the next thing. I need all the accessories. I need a new desk. I need a new couch. When the reality is I don’t really need anything and I need to sit back and reevaluate why I’m wanting all of this stuff. And the truth is buying stuff gives me small spurts of happiness and masks the true pain I don’t want to deal with.
But I get jealous. I get annoyed. I get confused and frustrated. It’s like all these people are thriving in these amazing roles and I’m just not. But would I be happier if I had my dream job? Probably not. If I know myself, I always find something to complain about so yeah, no matter how much success or money I get career-wise, I don’t think it can ever be the source of my happiness.
All these things considered, what I didn’t think of in my saddened stooper last Friday, is the hardships the Jonas Brothers went through to make it to this stage in their career. Nothing happens overnight. Life is a process and we have to trust the process.
