While it's not usually a goal we set out to accomplish, we may be the ones making ourselves miserable. By first identifying what's making you unhappy and by making some changes, you can turn your life of misery into one of happiness:
1. Blaming others
When something bad happens to you, do you look for someone to blame? If so, you are in a dangerous cycle of misery. It's counterproductive to blame others for your misfortunes. Not only does it take energy and time to figure out who caused your life to go wrong, but it also creates bad feelings towards others. To rid your life of misery, look for a solution instead of who is to blame. Spend your efforts on how you try again to do better.
2. Getting lost in yourself
When you're sad, depressed, disappointed and lonely it's easy to get lost in yourself. Your misery, your anger and your unhappiness take over and it's almost like you fall into a trap you can't escape from. To end your cycle of misery, focus on someone else. Choose to serve a child, a friend, a loved one or a stranger. Do anything to get your mind off of your own troubles.
3. Staying in a job you hate
Sometimes there are things that you know make you miserable, yet you're not doing anything to change it. Staying in a job you hate is one of those examples. It doesn't matter if you're making tons of money if it also causes you endless misery. It can be really scary to make a career change, but it can be even scarier to think about staying in a job you hate for the rest of your life.
4. Comparing yourself to others
Comparison is such an easy, yet treacherous thing to do. The trap of social media makes it even easier to think everyone is happier and more successful than you. But no one's life is perfect - everyone has trials and difficulties. You shouldn't dismiss your own blessings so quickly. If you find yourself easily depressed when scrolling through Facebook, turn it off. Delete your account and view your own photos instead. Look at all you have to be grateful for and stay away from the comparison game.
5. Staying in your comfort zone
It's easy to not challenge yourself, but this will wear on you after a while. Life is stale and boring if you don't try new things, leading you to live your days in complacency (and misery). If you find yourself too comfortable in your routine, try changing it up. Take a new class, ride your bike to work instead of driving, join a social club, take a vacation to someplace you've never been or pursue a dream you're too scared to try. Enjoy the adrenaline and fear that accompanies life outside of your comfort zone.
If you find yourself doing one of more of the above list, it's time to make some changes. While there are a lot of things that happen to us in this life that we can't control, we can control our reactions. We can continue to blame others, stay in our comfort zones and think that everyone else's life is better than ours, or we can get up, and make a change.
