I did not expect my return blog would be this deep topic but I am an emotion chaser and this is where my emotion has led me to after taking a month off blogging to spend time with family in England as well as to welcome all touches and thoughts of life on me.
If you follow The Wifey Life on Facebook and Instagram, you know that I've still updated posts during my time in England. I also wrote articles for Thanh Nien News - one of the Vietnamese National News as well as my Medium blog - https://nttthanh.medium.com/, where I write about other aspects of life, public opinions and views on social concerns and environmental topics. I haven't spent much time on it recently if I'm honest but I will try to write more as our world right now is a chaos and it needs people to form together as a strong voice against toxic behaviours such as racism, riots, brutality as well as wrongful conspiracies and intrigues leading people to commit illegal acts.
Being in England a month ago, it was devastating to see a sad picture of lockdown Christmas and NYE where people face the high risk of contagion and continuously rising deaths due to a new Covid variant breakout across the country. Besides, having a chance to spend time with my family-in-laws, experience the countryside of England and engage with nature, I find myself at peace with thoughts for life that somehow it's like a wakeup call to me or perhaps to you, too.
We're only happy when we're simple
It's so simple to be happy but so difficult to be simple. Sometimes we settle for things that don't make us happy, whether out of habit, indecisiveness or fear. Our hearts and minds get so used to our comfort zone that we forget being happy can be easy. The hard thing is discerning what is important to you and what sets your mind unworried.
You hear the idea "less is more" and happiness is found in simplicity. When you live a minimal life, you worry less. However, it does not mean that you don't work hard to earn things in your life. On the contrary, you need to put extra hard work to build and secure your life but know when and where is the limit. You shouldn't let work take centre stage because the more you let money lead the way, the higher and bigger your demands and expectations grow. Then, you will keep chasing it until you reach burnout.
Sometimes, to be happy we have to leave everything behind and start again from zero. But other times, it may mean some real inner work to heal wounds, fix frustrations and find new motivation. Therefore, you should come up with your own recipe for happiness and remember the key is simple.
Happiness cannot be found in perfection
We always look at others' lives and compare ourselves to envy the fortunate life others have and feel miserable at ourselves for not having the same lifestyle as they have. However, do we really know whether they're happy with their perfect life or not? Or are we happy with what we have? Are we counting our blessings enough or we're too busy to count others'?
Having a perfect life with a beautiful house, a fancy car, dressing in expensive clothes, purchasing top-notch brands, does not automatically make you a happy person. While there're people who have less, but you can feel the happiness generated from their smiles and their hearts. Therefore, perfection is not the goal of happiness. Chasing perfection is just a waste of time.
In fact, perfection is boring and life is not perfect at all times. Life is full of struggles and that is how you'll find your happiness. Happiness is an experience of a process. It's not the achievement you gain that makes you happy. It's the process of hard work gets paid off that makes you smile because you have conquered and overcome challenges. When you look back, you'll remember the memories that thanks to the struggles and the imperfection of life, you've found your happiness.
The pursuit of happiness is not the meaning of life
Life is not all about pursuing happiness. Happiness is just an experience which should come second. As an experience, happiness is temporary. Finding the meaning of life to live for is the first thing we all need to think of. Everybody has different purposes for life, whether it can be to live for yourself or your family and loved ones. Or it can be to live for society and make great impacts for better changes. Or it can be to live for less stuff but give more help and love to others, etc.
Depending on each stage of your life, you'll find yourself different purposes. Happiness can play as a motivation for you to find the meaning of your life. What truly makes you happy? What is important in your life? You only can move forward and find the meaning of your life when you face struggles in life, solve them and overcome them. It's a process of learning from mistakes, accepting yourself, giving without expectation, willing to make a better change, overcoming yourself with a forgiving and open mind.
Conclusion
Sometimes I find writing blogs is like writing my own diary that I am having a conversation to myself and putting it into words for you all to read. You might find yourself having the same thinking as mine or you might not. However, I am happy to be able to express those deep thoughts about life in this blog, so when I get older, I'll have something to read again and remember my 30-year-old self through these words.
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