CHOOSING TO BE HAPPY
ATA Martial Arts’ Self-Esteem Life Skill Cycle is coming to a close, so I wanted to end it with a word of encouragement to all of you. We all struggle with Self-Esteem from time-to-time and that struggle can often result in negative feelings that not only bring yourself down more, but also bring down those around you.
To prevent the downfall of a low self-esteem, we must consistently remind ourselves to choose happiness. I know what many of you must be thinking when reading that sentence… “It’s not that easy.” I used to say the same thing when I was told to simply choose happiness. I still have times where that’s my response. However, something I’ve come to learn that I think everyone should learn, is that we will only know joy if we want to.
The first step to achieving happiness is allowing yourself to. It’s much easier to stay in a state of negativity where we beat ourselves up over our flaws and our mistakes. It takes hard work and dedication to accept them and see the numerous great qualities we possess. You are responsible for your own happiness. It will always be up to you to decide who you are, who you want to be and how you want others to see you.
If you want to choose happiness, but you struggle with knowing exactly how to do so, here are some things I put into practice each day to find the joy in being myself:
- Do the small things that you love such as going for a run, wearing your favorite outfit, sitting in your favorite coffee shop with a new book, etc.
- Back off of social media because a lot of times, we start comparing ourselves to others and we get into such a habit of doing so on a regular basis that we don’t realize we’re doing it.
- Be grateful for the opportunity to wake up and start a new day with new opportunities.
- Take care of yourself by going to bed early some nights in order to make up for lack of sleep, drink lots of water, eat a hearty meal, etc.
- STOP complaining about all the things that don’t go well for you or all the things you don’t like yourself.
- START giving yourself credit when you do something well or achieve a short- or long-term goal.
You will have rough patches and bumps in the road that make it hard to choose happiness, but don’t let your circumstances and the opinions of others keep you from experiencing this emotion on a daily basis.
Author: McKenna Stephens
OCT.22.19