How To Be Happy

Ah, that old chestnut! You know the drill by now? A friend or family member, maybe a colleague, shares their good news, their successes with you and you react on a good day with all the right supportive, encouraging and genuinely happy words. On a bad day, you grimace rather grudgingly, maybe because your life isn’t going so smoothly!

Firstly, let me tell you that your feelings either way are perfectly normal. That said, it is much better to recognise feelings of jealously early on and do something about them. Life isn’t always rosy and often we get stuck, so clapping each other successes can make you feel rather less than successful. Perhaps a bit flat and useless? Suddenly, you find yourself bitching away to your friends about this person’s good news, making yourself look just awful and hurting their reputation in the process.

Not being happy for your friends/family’s big news can hurt both you and them, so let’s change the narrative shall we?

• Step outside yourself. Look at how you would feel if it were you delivering the news.

• Name how you are feeling. Why do you feel jealous?

• Identify areas you can improve in your life.

• Address what is holding you back from reaching your goals.

• Make a plan to get back on track.

• Talk about success with others. Recognise the difficulties along the way.

• Change the way you talk to yourself. Be more positive about how far you have come.

• Believe in yourself.

• Consider joining a business mentorship programme and or personal therapy.

• Are you spending too much time on social media comparing yourself to others? Don’t.

• Sometimes, being around successful people in the work environment will help.

• If your goal is personal and more about getting pregnant, married, a nice house, whatever, sit down with your doctor, relationship mentor or financial advisor and look at where you can make changes to help reach your goals.

Stay positive even in times of adversity. Dig deep and accept the challenge. Tell your friends how you feel about life in general and let them help you where they can.

It’s good to admire people in your life, look up to them and be inspired by their achievements. Often when you really discuss success in depth, you find that it took time, patience and a lot of work! No surprises there!