I believe happiness comes from contentment. By contentment, I don’t mean having no ambition or drive and being satisfied with not going anywhere. Drive and ambition are so important to me and are things that motivate me on a daily basis. What I mean by contentment, is being happy in life without relying on achievements, positive reinforcement, feedback from others or events/occasions to provide you with happiness. Achievements, success, progression, and the external things in life are great, but we don’t NEED them in order to be happy. They simply add to our lives instead of make them. Happiness can simply be found within. Once we are able to find contentment, we take the pressure of ourselves and enjoying riding the rollercoaster of life. Look within. We all go through times when we don’t quite feel ourselves and it is easy in these moments to look elsewhere for that boost or reassurance. It may be that we rely on an upcoming good performance to boost us, or we buy something to make us feel better, or we organise an exciting day out to boost our mood. This shows that we are looking externally for that boost because we aren’t content within ourselves. We feel we need to find happiness in the external things. I find myself looking for reassurance from those around me when I lack contentment. I want them to boost me and tell me I am enough, but this is not a sustainable source of happiness or a genuine one. I want to have the confidence and belief in myself that I am enough without needing to be told it, because this is where happiness and contentment really come from. When I feel like this, I try to make things as simple as possible. Rather than looking externally for things to make me happy, I look within and go through my emotions. I allow myself to feel all the emotions, I accept them and work through them. I try to remove all the embellishments from my life such as fancy days out and realise that I can develop happiness without relying on these exciting things or the validation of someone else. When I am able to reflect on my own thoughts without the interjection of others, I can understand them a lot more clearly and I find it to feel content within myself. Understand what is important to you.
As soon as we are able to understand what is truly important to us, we can focus our energy on these things and be content with what we have. Ask yourself, is the opinion of someone who does not know you really important to you? My guess is no, so why do we let those opinions dictate how we feel and allow us to believe where we are now in our lives is not good enough? When it comes to running, enjoying the simple act of moving is something that is incredibly important to me. I get so much enjoyment from simply doing it. Therefore, there is no point worrying about the future or about results, or what other people think of my journey, when I cannot predict what will happen in the future. What I can do, in order to be the best runner I can be, is enjoy where I am now and make the most of the process without comparing it to others. Get outside. One key thing that makes me feel most content in my life, is getting outside. The fresh air and sound of nature always clears my head and helps ground me. It reminds me how simple, but precious, life can be. I live in the countryside and get so much internal pleasure from the peacefulness of nature. I love to imagine how wildlife animals live such simplistic lives, yet they are so content with what they have. They do not over complicate things, they do not compare their lives to others, they simply live in the now and enjoy just being. I think this is something we as people should do more of. Recognise everyone has their struggles. Sometimes life feels a little harder than it does at other times. It is not abnormal to feel this way, everybody does at some points. You are not alone and we all have daily battles. For this reason, don’t beat yourself up about how you feel because you are not alone. Speak to others and you will find they feel very similarly. You do not need to force these emotions away, but instead embrace that they are right for you right now. As soon as you can recognise that where you are now is exactly where you are supposed to be, regardless of how this looks compared to other people, you will be content with the progress you are making. You are doing amazingly, and if you’re going through a difficulty period, know that this is completely ok. Become ok not always being ok, and be content with feeling the emotions you are naturally feeling. Accept who you are. I hope this blog has allowed you to realise that just being you, whoever that is in this current moment, is enough. As soon as you are able to recognise and come to terms with this, you will be able to find happiness in a place of contentment. You do not need to achieve certain things, please particular people, compare yourself to others, earn lots of money or do exciting things. The only opinion and belief of your life that matters is your own. If you are able to block all these external things out and be happy with the person you are, you can find happiness with contentment. All the other things that then happen in your life will only add to it, but you will not rely on this to provide you with happiness. To me, this is the most powerful aspect of life.
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Hannah IrwinI love to run and I love to write, so I write about running! Archives
March 2023
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