There are days where I feel happy and there are days when I am not. I used to think that completing my responsibilities would make me feel happy…at least somewhat satisfied. But the repetitiveness of going to work and cooking for the family every day just does not cut it.

I mean we must do it, it’s a responsibility!

But my questions were:

· What can I do to feel happy?

· Can I feel happy, at least all the time?

· Does happiness exist…if it does, what does it even mean?

I have felt that ensuring you are happy in life is often overlooked. Making sure I have paid the bills on time, meeting work deadlines, and buying my weekly shopping overrides all, not by choice but it just happens! This is usually because we assume we know what happiness means. It’s an overstated term that we mention in passing.

What Does Happiness Mean?

Happiness can be a confusing concept. It varies from person to person. Most people associate it with an object or a person/thing. My only concern with this is that it can be taken away from you almost instantly.

If a person or thing disappears, does that mean we have lost our ability to feel happy until it is restored? What if it cannot be restored- do we self-destruct?

I have been able to think about this concept thoughtfully for a while now. I have been able to conclude what it meant. Now, this will not be the same for everyone, however I do believe that insight is valuable for us to make conclusions or revise them. I have most recently taken the view that happiness is a mental state of mind. Happiness needs to exist inside of you rather than in the external world. This perspective is important to me because it reminds me that happiness is always inside of me, but the external world can grow/stimulate it. Therefore, we need to take actions that will help us maintain our state of mind, oppose to ignoring it.

Why Is Happiness Important?

Happiness is crucial in boosting your physical and mental health. Below I have created a non-exhaustive list of how I think it can help us:

• Feel motivated: we can set tasks that are important to us. This is satisfying as we can spend our day doing things that are important to us. Fortunately, we are also able to meet deadlines to increase productivity. This will help us grow as individuals and live life meaningfully. We would be dedicated to achieving what we want.
• Maintain relationships: we would be able to give our 100% effort to the people that mean the most to us. Having this reciprocated by them will help you feel close to them and happy. This is important because it will avoid feelings of loneliness and isolation. it is good to maintain healthy relationships with family, friends, or your partner.
• Help us feel conscious (feeling present so we can participate in daily tasks/social events). Help us to fight stress and life changes: (daily stressors such as work concerns and life changes such as loss of a job or moving to a new house)
• We would feel motivated to do the things we want. We would feel inspired to do new things that excite us.
• There are also advantages to our physical health such as boosting our immune system. More scientific advantages can be viewed here.

Can Happiness Be Maintained?

I have personally found that doing a set of things to take care of your health is essential in maintaining your happiness. Happiness is the driving force that provides you with pleasure to help you feel wholesome. Doing the things we enjoy such as adopting a hobby, can help us to maintain happiness — not just feel it momentarily. We must integrate this into our daily lives. We can do this by dividing our time equally to create time for pleasure and responsibilities.

There are things we can do in our lives to maintain it. They can be done alongside our responsibilities and should be things we enjoy doing.

Below Are My Recommendations For Hobbies You Can Do In Your Spare Time:

Doing what you enjoy will encourage you to maintain your happiness. Think about what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

• Writing: Writing has many benefits. It can help you to translate the thoughts and/or feelings that weigh heavily on your mind on to paper. Expressing what you feel on paper is a healthy way of dealing with any issues you may be going through. Writing down what you feel and reading through it at a later stage is therapeutic. Also, writing is a good creative outlet. It could be the fuse you need to showcase awareness on a cause you feel passionate about. This can be done through blogging, poetry, or writing a novel. Dedicating a couple of hours per day on this could help you feel happier and can help you extend your hobby to a career. Who doesn’t want to get paid for a job that they enjoy?
  
• Listening to Music: On a personal note, music acts like a time-travelling machine that takes me far away to a novel place I haven’t yet experienced. It takes away misery I may have been feeling before it, like it is the voice of reason I needed when going through a break-up, questioning a job opportunity, or want to feel uplifted. It inspires and motivates me to do something that is outside my comfort zone. Doing something different or new can be a good thing because it introduces excitement into your life.
  
• Taking a Walk: This may not come to mind when you are trying to find a new hobby. Some may take this from face value and not give it much thought at all. But you would be surprised at the % of walking as an activity has declined over the years. With great thanks to advanced technology, walking is no more than a secondary option for transportation (to some, not even a second option at all). Sadly, what this means is that we have been stripped of the possibility to enjoy the many advantages it has to offer. One of which is observing nature. Becoming a naturalist will entice you to enjoy the real-life that is around you. My favourite thing to do is watching the sunset. It makes me feel very peaceful and helps eliminate any stressors on my mind. This is very meditative and will help you to focus on yourself and what you want.

Other hobbies you may want to consider:

– Yoga

– Reading

– Photography

– Travelling.