The best way to stay miserable is by avoiding change. If you want to see improvements in your life, then you need to make changes in your life.

If you want to find greater happiness in 2015, consider these 17 things you need to stop doing:

1. Comparing yourself to others

Someone is always going to be better than you, and that's OK. The only person you need to compete with is yourself. If you are better than you were before, then you are on the right track.

2. Waiting for the right moment

Stop waiting. Make this the right moment. Join a dating site, take a college course, ask for forgiveness, sign up for a marathon, give up a bad habit. The timing is never going to be perfect, so you just have to take a leap of faith and move forward.

3. Spending time with people who hurt you

Don't waste your time on people who make you feel bad about yourself. Fill your life with friends and family who uplift and bring out the best in you. Toxic relationships aren't worth it.

4. Judging others

So a person looks a little different or says something you don't agree with. You have no idea who they are, or what they've been through. Who are you to judge? The world is full of people who hate and hurt. What we really need is a world full of people who love and care for one another.

5. Running away from your problems

Your challenges aren't going to go away until you face them. It might be hard, and it's going to push you to your limits, but you will come out a better person because of it.

6. Putting your own needs on the back burner

You can only give so much to other people before you break. In the midst of taking care of your family, responsibilities and job, don't forget to take time to take care of yourself. Get a manicure, take a nap and go out for a girl's night.

7. Trying to be someone you're not

Judy Garland says it best: "Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else." People love the real you.

8. Being scared to make mistakes

Nobody has ever made it through life without making mistakes. It's going to happen, so don't paralyze yourself.

9. Trying to buy happiness

When people talk about the things that made them the most happy in life, they always include two things: their spouse and their kids. It's not their car or the endless stuff they accumulate. It is their relationships. Money can buy fleeting happiness, but not lasting joy.

10. Missing out

It's easy to get sucked into your phone, but sometimes you just need to put Facebook away and start living in the moment with the people around you.

11. Being a pushover

Stand up for yourself. If someone isn't treating you right, call them out on it. You deserve love and respect, and it's perfectly fine to ask for it. Learn to say "no," and stand by your decisions.

12. Being too busy

Don't let your life be defined by your to-do list. These days, it's not hard to fill up your schedule with endless lessons, meetings, obligations, and commitments, but it's also OK to have a day off.

13. Blaming other people for your problems

When you allow other people's actions to dictate your life, you give them the power. Don't be submissive to your situation.

14. Relying on others to make you happy

There is only one person in this world who is in charge of making you happy, and that is yourself. Relying on other people to always bring you joy is risky business.

15. Doubting yourself

You CAN do it - don't let anybody tell you otherwise. It doesn't matter how difficult or extraordinary the challenge, you have the ability to succeed. Believe in yourself and trust that the talents and knowledge you have will get you where you want to go.

16. Eating out excessively

Unless, of course, you really want to pack on the pounds. Eating out is expensive and unhealthy. Save yourself some dollars and calories and make yourself a meal at home instead.

17. Being complacent with your life

Don't be content with something you're not happy about! If you don't like your job, then get a new one. If your marriage is on the rocks, then sign up for therapy. You have the power to change the things that you don't like.